


More Than That

by rosesandcream



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, But also, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Quidditch, Smut, hopefully not too much though, they're frenemies, will add more tags as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:27:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29506188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesandcream/pseuds/rosesandcream
Summary: "Rule number two - no kissing," Sage said. Fred opened his mouth with an incredulous look to retort but she continued on before he could speak. "Or at least not without a purpose."Fred processed the information for a moment but then grinned his typical grin. A mischievous look took over his eyes and he scooted even closer to her on the bed until their bodies were pressed together. "A purpose, hmm?" he asked directly into her ear with a low voice, sending shivers up and down her spine. "So if I kiss you it means it's going to lead somewhere?".He then brought his lips to her neck and started to softly press kisses upwards until he neared her mouth, his hand starting to wander up her bare leg."No, Fred," she said and pushed her off of him once she finally regained her senses. "At least wait until we finish the rules."~~~~Or...Fred is Sage's best friend's older brother who she's always had a love/hate relationship with. They somehow strike up a friends with benefits arrangement, hoping that they can release their pent-up frustrations for one another and remain friends along the way.Whether they can remain only friends is what they need to figure out.
Relationships: Fred Weasley/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

"I'm going to kill him," Sage muttered as she looked at her clothes in shock. "I am going to kill him."

She was standing in front of her closet in her room that she shared with Hermione, dressed only in a towel that was slowly soaking up more and more water from her dark, dripping hair as she looked at her half of the closet that was all stained the same shade of pink. The second she saw the clothes, she immediately knew who the culprit was.

She cursed him angrily as she threw her towel to the floor before reluctantly changing into a pair of light pink jeans with a pink sweater over the top, a pair of pink underwear and a pink bra to match - because of course he couldn't leave her with any dignity. When she looked in the mirror, she immediately cringed at how the color clashed with her tanned skin.

It wasn't that she didn't like pink - she wasn't one of those girls who absolutely hated it because it was too girly, but her whole closet? That was an issue.

She angrily stomped out of her room and quickly made her way over to the boys dorms, a pink flush gracing her cheeks to match her outfit when she noticed that there were students in the common room to see her fun outfit.

She pounded on the door, not caring if she injured the wood with her forceful knocks. After a few moments, he opened the door and leaned against the door frame with his arms across his chest, looking down at her with a smug look.

"Fred," she started angrily. She could practically feel steam coming out of her ears.

"Yes, Sage?" He asked innocently.

"Reverse it."

"Reverse what?" he asked with faux cluelessness. "I don't have a clue what you're talking about." His eyes trailed over her body that was clad in pink clothes by his doing.

"Reverse my closet or I swear to Merlin I will chop your bollocks off with a-"

"Ohhh, you're closet," he said as if he suddenly remembered, interrupting her. "I just brightened it up a bit, don't you think?".

"Reverse my fucking closet, Fred."

"Alright, alright, no need to get your knickers in a twist. Your pink knickers, that is," he said and amusedly looked down to where the underwear laid underneath her pants, seeming to be imagining what they looked like at the moment. "Let's go, shall we?" he asked after he finally looked back up to her face.

She didn't say anything, instead just glared at him and led him back to her room.

"You're cute when you get all mad," he said and patted the top of her head as if she was an animal. "You look like an angry kitten."

She smacked his hand off of her head with a huff. "Just change my clothes back, Fred," she said as she opened the door to her room.

He nodded with an amused look on his face and then made his way over to her closet and muttered something under his breath with his wand out. Her monochrome clothes slowly started to change back to their original colors, and she felt like her breath had finally entered her lungs again.

One of the things that pissed her off the most about Fred was how bloody good he was with magic - especially when it came to spells and jinxes. It was unbelievable how many he knew; she had no idea where he learned them from or how he even had the time to learn them all. It had been like that for years - him always knowing a spell to pants someone or trip them. He even put a full face of makeup on Ron one time without him noticing.

That's why she could never reverse his stupid pranks, the magic was always far too advanced and she couldn't find the spells anywhere, no matter how hard she looked.

"Are you sure you want to change these back?" he asked, stepping out of the closet with a light pink lace thong held up in his hands. "I think they're quite cute this way."

"Fred!" she shrieked and embarrassedly snatched it out of his hands.

All he did was chuckle, unashamed as always. "You want it changed?".

She did not want to be speaking about them any longer, so she just shook her head. "It's fine, just finish up."

He finished the rest of her closet, and then he finally changed the clothes that she was currently wearing back to their original form. She looked down at her body and watched the pink slowly fade into a pair of baggy blue jeans and a dark red sweater.

"All done," he said with a cheeky smile. "Do I get a thank you?".

"No. Not when you were the one that caused all of this," she said and started to push him out of her room.

"What? You don't want to hangout?" he asked teasingly, knowing that she most definitely did not want to hang out with him.

"No. Bye, Fred," she said and slammed the door in his face.

"Your brother is an absolute prick," Sage said to Ginny as she angrily took a bite of her chicken.

Ginny chuckled as she ate another bite of her own food. "What did he do this time?".

Sage stabbed another bite of chicken with her fork, imagining that it was Fred who she was impaling with the metal prongs. "He changed my entire closet to a nauseating shade of pink".

Ginny grinned. "He did that to me once when I was younger, except he changed all my clothes to orange after we got into a fight over quidditch teams. I looked like a die hard Chudley Cannons fan for weeks until he finally changed them back."

Sage rolled her eyes but couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the idea. "What the hell does he get out of doing this to me?".

Ginny shrugged, but she couldn't help the amused smile from gracing her lips. "I dunno, maybe it's because you get so pissed at him whenever he does anything. It really is quite funny."

Sage smacked her on the arm. "What am I supposed to do? Skip around happily every time that he pulls shit like this?".

Ginny grinned and shook her head but couldn't say anything back because that was when Fred and George walked into the dining hall.

The rest of their friends were sitting a few feet down from them, Hermione in the middle of lecturing Harry and Ron about something, but Fred sat in front of Ginny and Sage at the table - even though there was plenty of room to sit somewhere else. Sage just pettily kept her head down while she picked at her chicken.

"What, are you not talking to me now?" Fred asked with a smirk.

"No," Sage said, still focusing on her food.

"But I reversed it!".

Sage just shook her head with a frown, too tired of all of his pranks that always seemed to be aimed at her to forgive him that quickly.

Fred huffed and grabbed some food for himself from the wide array of dinner options on the table. He started to eat his dinner, watching Sage to see when she would start talking to him again. It wasn't like the silence at their table was awkward or noticeable, seeing as they were in a dining hall filled with hundreds of loud students, but the silence from sage was what bothered him most. Getting to talk to her was why he always looked forward to meals; he couldn't stand not having that privilege, even if only for a minute.

"Sageee," he said.

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes, still giving him the silent treatment.

"Sage."

Nothing.

"Sageee."

No response. Ginny and George also both rolled their eyes, signifying that Sage wasn't the only annoyed one at the table.

Fred thought for a moment. "Do you want my roll?" he asked with a bread roll in his outstretched hand. "You can think of it as a peace offering."

Sage rolled her eyes and looked up at him. "Fred, there's a whole plate of rolls sitting right there." She pointed to the platter in front of her that was in fact practically overflowing with bread.

He faltered for a moment. "Yeah, but this is _my_ roll. That's what makes it special."

She looked up at him, unamused, but couldn't resist his innocent puppy eyes and felt the corners of her lips quirk up in a small smile. She reluctantly took the roll from his hand, a symbol of her forgiveness. She had never been able to resist forgiving Fred, no matter how bad what he did was or how many times he did it.

"Oh my god, you guys won't believe what happened in potions today," Sage said and started retelling a story from her day to the other three.

Fred leant his chin on his hand as he listened, a fond look spread across his face as he watched her animatedly tell them what happened with wild hand gestures. George and Ginny shared a knowing look after glancing at Fred, but that went unnoticed to the other two.

Once they finished dinner, Sage and Ginny parted ways. They both had loads of homework to do, so Sage made her way back to her own room to start working on hers, hoping that she could possibly cheat off of Hermiones' work. Without her knowing of course.

When she walked in, Hermione was already sitting on her bed with a textbook out. Sage walked over to Hermiones' bed and flopped down on her back in the open space, groaning as her arm came up to shield her eyes.

Hermione sighed and set her book down, knowing that her very upset friend took precedence over her homework. "What is it this time?" she asked in a bored tone.

"Fred."

"Really?" she asked in a sarcastically shocked voice. "I wouldn't have guessed."

"Shut up," Sage said and removed her arm from her eyes to glare at her friend but. "He needs to stop with all of these bloody pranks, I don't know why he feels the need to pick on me so much. I laughed along at first, but now it's just getting plain annoying."

"Maybe because you just let him."

"What?" Sage asked.

Hermione sighed. "I mean, have you ever done anything to him in return? Or ever really gotten mad at him?".

"I'm always mad at him!" Sage protested.

"Yeah, for like two seconds. Then you just forgive him and then you guys are best friends again. Until he pulls something a day later."

Sage groaned and rubbed over her face with her hands. "I know, I know. I don't know what it is with him, I just can't seem to stay mad at him".

She removed her hands from her face to see Hermione giving her a deadpan look.

"What? He has _some_ good qualities. He can be really sweet. And funny. It's only all of the other shit that he pulls that's annoying."

Hermione groaned. "I don't care how funny he is! You need to give him a taste of his own medicine. Grow a pair."

" 'Mione!" Sage giggled. Hermione normally kept a very clean mouth, so it was shocking to hear her say such crude things.

Hermione shrugged. "What? It's true!".

Sage calmed down her laughter and sighed again. "I know, I just don't know how I could get back at him. I've never been very good at all that stuff. I don't even know where he gets half of the spells that he uses".

Hermione grinned mischievously. "I bet I could figure it out. I have always liked a challenge".

Sage could already see the wheels in her brain turning as she thought about what books she would pull from the library the next day.

Sage chuckled. "You do that."

"I will, I'm telling you. His stupid pranks affect me too. Remember the time he put those frogs in your drawer? I'm not quite fond of frogs either. Or of all of the ruckus he causes in class to mess with you. I would love to see him knocked down a peg."

Sage chuckled at the fiery glint in Hermione's eyes and just patted her on the shoulder before moving to her own bed to get started on her school work.


	2. Chapter 2

"No, those look way too hard," Sage said, gesturing to an entire list of spells.

It was the next day, and immediately after they finished their classes, Hermione dragged Sage up to their room to show her the book that she had found in the library that morning. It was an old book filled with spells and jinxes, some so cruel that she wondered how the book ended up in the school, but with a few potentially useful ones nonetheless.

They were eagerly searching through the papers to find something that Sage could use to get back at Fred. She didn't think that she'd actually have to put in effort to learn these things that Fred did all of the time, but if it meant she was even a little closer to being on his level when it came to pranks, she would do it. She had felt inferior to him for much too long and it was time for a change.

"What about these? They look pretty simple," Hermione said after flipping to a page filled with simple jinxes.

Sage scanned the list and looked at the directions to complete each one, most looking relatively simple. "Yeah, these could work".

They looked through the jinxes on that page as well as a few others, soon deciding on a pantsing jinx. It was a pretty easy one, but hopefully it would be effective. And embarrassing.

Hermione read over the instructions multiple times, practicing the described motion with her wand and perfecting the flick of her wrist, and muttered the spell a few times to get a feel for how it rolled off of her tongue.

"Okay, stand up," she directed.

Sage was a bit confused but stood up from the bed. "How come?".

"I need to try it once. Then you can learn it".

Sage immediately moved her hands to defend her lower regions. "You are not pantsing me!".

Hermione chuckled. "C'mon, it's not like i'm going to do your underwear! At least, hopefully I won't," she giggled and practiced the movement with her wand again.

"Why can't I just learn it and practice on you? I'm going to be the one using it anyways".

"Because these instructions are really confusing and it's best if I learn it first and then teach you. We both know that you aren't the most gifted when it comes to spell work".

Sage rolled her eyes but reluctantly nodded. She really couldn't argue with that. "Okay, fine".

Hermione chuckled and raised her wand before clearly saying, "evanescere" and flicking her wand in an intricate movement that was aimed at Sages' pants.

Shockingly, Sage's pants did in fact shoot down to her ankles.

They both giggled as Sage quickly pulled them back up, Sage quickly falling onto Hermione's bed soon after in a fit of laughter.

"Okay, well at least we know it works," Sage said after her laughter ceased.

"Okay, let me show you," Hermione said and pulled Sage up so that she was sitting next to Hermione on the bed.

Hermione first showed Sage how to use her wand, moving it for her at first through the motion that resembled the & symbol. Once she got the hang of it, Hermione instructed her in how to say the spell.

"Evanescere," Hermione spoke, stressing each syllable.

"Evanescere".

"No, no, you're saying ev-an-ess-ar-ey. It's ev-ah-ness-ah-ray".

Sage groaned. "I'm saying the same thing!".

Hermione groaned in return but chuckled. "No you're not! Try again: evanescere".

"Evanescere".

Hermione stood up. "Perfect. Not try on me".

Sage chuckled as she got ready to try it, finding it incredibly funny that this was how Hermoine and her were spending their time after school.

"Evanescere," she spoke and flicked her wand.

It did in fact work, Hermione's pants falling down to the ground quickly, and they both smiled at the fact that it had worked.

"Am I interrupting something?".

Sage and Hermoine's heads both quickly turned towards the open door to see Ginny leaning against the door frame with a smirk on her face, eyeing Hermione's half naked form.

Hermione practically squealed in embarrassment as she yanked her pants back up, a bright red blush coating her entire face, but I couldn't help but fall backwards on the bed in laughter.

"It's not what it looks like!" Hermione quickly said as Ginny closed the door behind her and entered the room.

"Are you sure? I could always leave you two alone," she said with a teasing smile and jokingly took a step backwards towards the door. "Although, I would also love to stay and watch".

"That will not be needed," Hermione assured her, shaking her head to try and rid herself of her flustered state.

Ginny chuckled in amusement and patted Hermione on the shoulder before moving to lay down next to Sage.

Sage turned to look at Ginny, still giggling a bit.

Hermione and Sage were roommates and had known each other since their first year, but Ginny was definitely her best friend. Sadly, they couldn't live together because Ginny was a year younger than her, but Sage loved living with Hermione. Hermione's closest friends were Harry and Ron while Sage's was Ginny, and living with someone who wasn't her absolute best friend was nice. They didn't spend every living moment together and they weren't sick of each other.

Sage didn't know the reason why she and Ginny were so close; they just clicked. Whether it was because they both grew up with older brothers or just because of their matching personalities, she didn't care. They had become as close as sisters only after their first quidditch practice together when Sage was in her second year, and it had been the same ever since.

"What just happened?" Ginny asked with an amused smile.

"We learned a pantsing jinx".

Ginny chuckled. "What in the hell for?".

Sage smiled but paled a little bit, not knowing how Ginny would feel about the prank against her brother.

"Oh my god, it's for Fred isn't it?" she asked with a large smle.

Sage nodded, a sheepish smile taking over her face.

Ginny threw her head back in laughter. "That's absolutely wicked. Now go get your quidditch clothes on, that's what I came to get you for," Ginny said and pushed her up off of the bed.

Sage finally noticed that Ginny was dressed for quidditch practice and checked the time, racing to the bathroom when she realized how much time had passed and how soon practice would start.

"You should do it at practice! I want to see!" Ginny yelled when Sage ran into the bathroom with her clothes in hand. "Just don't do the underwear! I don't need to see _that_ much".

Hermione chuckled from where she was sitting on her own.

Ginny's smile towards the closed bathroom door was then aimed at Hermione. "You know, I didn't know you had it in you, 'Mione," Ginny said and leant back on the headboard of Sage's bed.

Hermione frowned. "Didn't have what in me?".

"Learning and teaching _jinxes_ " she said mockingly with her fingers waving as if she was telling a spooky story to children. "I thought you just used your talent for school issued stuff. What a bad influence," she chided.

Hermione blushed and looked away, but didn't have time to respond because Sage was walking out of the bathroom.

"Ready?" Ginny asked as she stood up from the bed.

"Yeah, just need to get my shoes on," Sage said.

"I think I'm going to come too," Hermione said and stood up from her bed, walking into their closet to grab herself a coat.

"Why? Want to come watch me play?" Ginny asked with a smirk.

Hermione huffed out an annoyed breath but still had a bit of blush on her cheeks. "No. I want to see what happens with Fred".

Sage stood up with tied shoes and hurried to open the door. "Let's go".

~~~~~~~~~

Once practice started, Sage solely focused on quidditch. She wasn't going to let whatever revenge she was planning for Fred distract her from getting a successful practice in. The other teams had been putting in extra work that year, Slytherin in particular, and their team needed all the hard work that it could get from it's players.

It however did not help that Fred decided to be extra obnoxious that day, taking every chance that he could get to cut her off on his broom or sliding right alongside her and bumping her to the side slightly. It only fueled her ever growing annoyance for the boy.

After what felt like a fast hour, practice finished and the players all spoke with each other as they put their brooms away in the quidditch shed and grabbed the rest of their things from the bench.

"You gonna do it?" Ginny asked as she came up beside Sage, a little sweaty and breathless from practice.

"Yeah," Sage said and pulled out her wand, practicing the swoosh and muttering the spell once more to make sure that she had it down.

"Okay, I'm going to go sit with Hermione, let you deal with his wrath," Ginny said, gesturing to her older brother.

"What, you think he'll be angry? It's a simple jinx!".

Ginny just snorted and jogged over to where Hermione was sitting on the team bench and talking to Harry and Ron.

Sage took a deep breath and raised her wand, checking once to make sure that no one else was watching, and aimed it at Fred whose back was turned to her as he spoke with George and Oliver.

"Evanescere," she muttered and flicked her wrist in the way that Hermione had taught her.

Nothing happened to Fred's pants. He just continued talking to his brother and friend, completely unbothered.

Sage frowned and tried again, really stressing the vowels in the way that Hermione had.

Again, nothing happened.

She frowned deeper and studied her wand to make sure that it still worked, even though she had never heard of wands spontaneously not working. She just couldn't think of another reason why the spell that she had been able to do an hour prior suddenly wasn't working.

She was too busy examining her wand with a scowl to notice his approach, but she soon saw a pair of feet standing directly in front of her and she looked up from her wand to see a very amused Fred.

He shook his head, the amused grin still plastered on his face. "You think I haven't heard of a pansing jinx before, Sage? I practically invented it".

Sages' jaw slacked open with a nonexistent explanation. She frowned in confusion, because even if he did know the jinx, how come it didn't work?

"How- why does that-" she brokenly said, voicing her confusion.

Fred chuckled. "I know what the spell feels like before it even begins to work and I know the counter spell. I've known that one since I was six".

Sage's frown was still present on her face. "But- your wand?".

He chuckled again, his hands resting casually in his pockets. "Wandless magic," he explained casually, as if wandless magic wasn't basically unheard of, wasn't one of the most impressive things that you could know how to do at their age. Even Hermione didn't know how to do the smallest amount.

Fred chuckled at her shocked expression. "You know, Sage," he started, leaning down closer to her. "A little tip if you're going into the pranking business, you know, from a pro: If you learn a spell, you really should learn how to defend against it".

She frowned again "How come?".

"Just in case someone wanted to reciprocate," he said easily.

She was confused at what he meant for a moment, but it was soon made clear when he nonchalantly aimed his hand at her pants and muttered a quick "evanescere", her pants soon falling down off of her waist.

"Fred!" she squealed and yanked her pants back up, searching around the field with a red face to see if anyone else had witnessed the embarrassing moment. It seemed that everyone else had either left the field or were preoccupied in a conversation, other than Hermione and Ginny who were practically cackling 20 feet away.

She glared up at him as he grinned down at her, and she just huffed and stormed away towards her friends, angry at her backfiring plan.


	3. Chapter 3

"Fuck," Sage cursed as she and Hermione walked into their room, Ginny having left to go shower in her own.

"Well, that didn't work," Hermione stated.

"No shit, Hermione," Sage said.

Instead of getting offended at her friend's pissy attitude, Hermione just chuckled amusedly. "Cheer up, it's not the end of the world. No one even saw you anyway."

Sage sighed and sat down on her bed. "That's not what I'm worried about. I have a feeling I just started something that I shouldn't have gotten myself into."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply in hopes of assuring Sage that she was wrong but didn't have anything to say. She knew that Sage was right. Once you messed with Fred, there was no going back.

She groaned and flopped backwards on the mattress, not caring about her sweaty state from practice. "What do I do now?".

Hermione thought for a moment. "I mean, can it really get any worse? He's always messing with you anyways, I doubt he'll do it even more just because of one failed attempt at revenge."

Sage nodded. "I guess."

"Or," Hermione started again, her lips curled into a mischievous smile. "You could keep trying to get back at him. Let me get out the book," she said and reached for the book that they had been reading earlier that afternoon.

"No, 'Mione. I can't beat him at any of that stuff. He's been doing it for too long and he'll always be better than me," Sage said with a defeated smile.

"Then we'll just have to find you your own thing!" Hermoine said and moved to sit next to Sage on her bed. "We'll just have to find something that doesn't use spellwork. Or any kind of magic for that matter. You've really never been quite good at any of it."

Sage sat up from the bed and smacked Hermione on her arm. "So then what am I supposed to do then? I think it's a lost cause. I just want him to find someone else to pick on."

Hermione sighed. "We all know that that's not going to happen. Once Fred has his sights set on something, he doesn't give up".

"So then what should I do? What's his weakness?".

Hermione frowned as she thought, and there was a silence between them as they both racked their brains for something that could be used against Fred. Hermione's eyes soon opened wide with excitement when she remembered something - something that could be used against the obnoxious boy. "You know that Fred likes you, right?". They never really spoke about it, but how could she not know? It was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What? No he doesn't," Sage scoffed.

Hermione sighed, "Yes he does. Harry, Ron and I talk about it all the time. I can't believe you haven't noticed! I thought we just chose not to speak about it."

" 'Mione, Fred does not have a crush on me. I'm his friend, it's not like that."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, giving Sage an unconvinced look. "Then why is he always messing with you?".

Sage rolled her eyes. "It's not like how kindergarteners pick on their crushes at recess; it's more like," she paused for a moment to form her words. "Like he's testing out stuff on me. New magic and what not."

Hermione gave her an unamused look that told Sage she was full of shit.

"Plus," Sage started again. "I've seen him flirt with plenty of other girls. Plenty of other girls. I'm even pretty sure he had a thing with Katie last month."

Hermione thought about that for a moment and nodde; she did remember Fred and Katie being rather close not too long ago. "Okay, maybe he's not in _love_ with you, but he's at least attracted to you. That much is clear."

Sage chuckled. "That I can believe. I am pretty hot."

Hermione broke out into a fit of laughter. "Seriously though, try something at dinner. You'll see for yourself."

"What do you mean?".

"Like, flirt with him a little. Something not too obvious that could be played off as something else."

"Why? Even if he is attracted to me, what is that going to do?".

Hermione let out an annoyed breath as if Sage asked a stupid question. "I dunno, why not? Just so you can see. Maybe you can even use it to your advantage."

Sage nodded in agreement. Messing with Fred a bit couldn't hurt anything, right? It would be nice to see him not so cocky for once. Maybe she could even get him blushing. If it didn't work out, she had already been embarrassed by him too many times to care about one more thing.

She looked at the clock to see the time and said, "Dinner's in 20, I'm going to take a shower and get dressed, wait for me?".

Hermione nodded and Sage got up to grab some clothes from her closet.

"I can't believe you haven't seen the way he looks at you," Hermione said right before Sage closed the door to the bathroom.

Sage just flipped her off before shutting the door.

~~~~~~~~~~

That night at dinner, Hermione and Sage walked into the dining hall to see that all of their friends had already arrived, Sage having caused the two to be late with her shower. She walked to the opposite side of the table from where Hermione was going so that she could sit next to Fred, so when she arrived she plopped down right next to him - a little closer than normal.

The truth was that Sage had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She had been looking for a weakness that Fred could possibly possess and Hermione had put an idea in her head, but she had no clue what to do with that. How could she tell if he was attracted to her or not? It wasn't as easy as Hermione had made it sound.

She had flirted with plenty of guys in the past, sometimes even successfully landing a few dates and boyfriends, but she had no idea how to do that with one of her closest friends. Especially when she wasn't supposed to make it obvious.

After getting started on her dinner and enduring a few urging glances from Hermione, Sage finally decided to take action.

She turned to her right as if she had just remembered something and placed her hand on Fred's bicep. "Oh, Fred, did you ever-" she paused in the middle of her sentence, looking down at his arm that she was grasping onto. He looked at her curiously, a frown set on his face. "Since when did you get strong?" she asked innocently.

She looked up at Fred with curious eyes, but he didn't answer her question; only looked at her with a wide open jaw.

She gave his bicep a squeeze and said "huh," before turning back to her food as if she had only been discussing the weather.

"What were you going to ask?" he finally got out.

"Hmm, must have forgotten," Sage said with a shrug of her shoulders.

She started up a conversation with Hermione as if she hadn't done anything out of the ordinary, but she could see Fred out of the corner of her eye. He looked at her in shock for a moment then soon turned back to his food, but she could see him sending her curious glances every once and a while between breaks in conversation.

Sage couldn't keep the small smile off of her face as she took bites of her pasta.

Throughout the rest of the meal, she acted relatively normal, except for the seemingly innocent touches that she would grant Fred with. Whether she was telling him something or laughing at one of his jokes, she would casually grace her hand on his arm or his knee.

Like Hermione had said, she wasn't doing anything too obvious, just a few friendly touches here and there. It wasn't like she and Fred weren't close, it wasn't like she was just randomly being weirdly friendly with someone she didn't know at all. They were friends. Kind of. They had a bit of a love/hate relationship, and they were in fact pretty good friends when it came to the 'love' part. They didn't touch each other regularly, but the simple moves that she was making should not have been seen as too out of the ordinary from a friend.

Though she couldn't help but notice that each and every time that she did something, he would get just as flustered.

'Huh,' she thought to herself. 'I could use this'.

~~~~~~~~~~

Throughout the next week, Sage had her fun messing with Fred. She didn't have a goal in mind per se, but the satisfaction that she got from getting him flustered or speechless was incredible. It was normally Fred that was always evoking a reaction from her, so she basked in the powerful feeling that she got any time the roles were reversed, even for a second.

She really should have stopped after a few days or at least done whatever she was planning to do with the new information, but she couldn't help it when it was so damn fun.

In the first few days she started out small, still touching him a bit more than normal in seemingly 'innocent' ways, making a few flirty comments every once and awhile, that sort of stuff.

There were also a few times where she took it just a bit further. If she dropped her quill in class, accidentally or not, she would always bend down to pick it up in an obscenely sexual way, making sure that her back was always to Fred. When she stood up she would make sure to appear unbothered and never looked directly at Fred, but she could always see him looking at her in the corner of her eyes.

There were also a few times at quidditch practice that she chose to mess with him, lifting up the bottom of her shirt to wipe off the little bit of sweat that was on her forehead, exposing her tanned waist as she did so. She was pretty sure that she was the reason that he got hit with a bludger one day. Oops.

After a few more days she got bored, so she decided to step it up just a bit more. She and Fred had agreed that he would pick her up from her room to walk to the field together, and she had waited for him to knock on the door before stepping into their closet.

"It's open!" she had yelled out to him from the wardrobe.

She heard the door open and shut behind him once he was in the room, and he had asked, "You ready?".

"Yeah," she said and stepped out of the closet, wearing only a bra on her upper half. "I think I left my jersey out here though," she said and began to look around for it, not acknowledging the fact that she wasn't wearing a shirt.

It wasn't like she was wearing lingerie. She was wearing a sports bra, just a bit of a low coverage one at that. It was a black one with thin straps that she had bought in her third year, but she filled it out a bit excessively since her breasts had grown since then.

Fred wasn't one to be overly polite, especially when it came to Sage, so he didn't cover his eyes or even pretend to look away. He just unashamedly trailed his eyes up and down her body as she walked around the room in search of her shirt, his gaze lingering on her chest after he had seen everything else.

Sage had been hoping for a bit more of a reaction, maybe a bit of a blush or some stammering. "Take a picture, it'll last longer," she said in hopes of flustering him and picked up her jersey that she had 'found' even though she had planted it there.

When the material finally covered her skin, his eyes moved up to lock with hers and he looked confident as normal as he leant against the wall next to the door. She felt a pang annoyance make itself present in herself when she didn't get the reaction that she wanted.

"Hey," he said and put his hands up defensively. "You knew I was in here, I'm just appreciating the view."

She huffed, grabbed her water and made her way out the door, a light blush on her cheeks that she was not happy about. It was supposed to be the other way around.

Fred had just chuckled and followed behind her until they reached practice.

After a week of her teasing and the unsatisfactory result from that day, she decided to be a bit more bold and try something a bit more dangerous. She was ready to get back at him for all the shit he had pulled over the years, even if it was just for a moment.

She had finished her schoolwork that day and curfew was nearing, so she got ready to head to Fred and George's room, a loosely formed plan in mind and a smirk present on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so this is like totally cheating at writing, but I aged up all the characters a couple of years. Sage is in 5th year with Hermione, Harry and Ron and they are all 17, Ginny is in 4th and is 16, and Fred and George are in 7th and are 19. I know it makes no sense and I really hope it doesn't cause any confusion, I just wanted to keep them in Hogwarts and wanted her to be in the same year as the golden trio, but I didn't really want to write a 15 year old in any mature scenes.
> 
> It's not really essential to the plot so you can imagine it however you want, this is just how I write it!
> 
> thank you guys :)


	4. Chapter 4

Sage moved quickly as she made her way to the library, always checking over her shoulder for teachers as she walked. She was both wearing clothes that were not up to dress code, and she was also pushing the limits of the curfew. She only had a few minutes before the clock would ring as it struck 10:00.

"Sage, hey!" she heard someone say as she walked passed them in the hallway.

She looked up to see a familiar pair of brown eyes looking at her that rested on the perfectly-tanned dark haired boy. She could practically feel all of the air leave her chest. "H-hey, Theo," she miraculously got out, cursing herself for not speaking clearly.

He flashed a charming smile at her, almost as if he could see the effect that he had on her. It was crazy what that did to her stomach. He also trailed his eyes over her form, seeming to not care to hide it and not at all ashamed, which sent a shiver trailing over her body wherever his eyes went. She scolded her body for reacting so strongly to him but was luckily able to refrain from actually shivering.

"Where are you going?" he asked, probably noticing that she was walking away from her room at this time of the night.

"Oh, uh, just making a quick trip to the library. Needed another book for Potions," she lied and gestured with her thumb to the library.

He chuckled. "Can't believe you can be bothered at this time. Though you were always the over achiever," he said with a teasing smile. She really hoped that that was a compliment.

She rolled her eyes with a fond smile and tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear, her cheeks pinking a bit. Though that always seemed to happen whenever she was in the presence of Theodore Knott. "I guess."

"Well, I gotta get going before curfew," he said as he took a step backwards in the direction of the rooms. "Not all of us are daredevils like you." He flashed her another cheeky smile.

"Shut up," she breathed out, not at all serious.

"See you around?".

"Uh- yeah, see you."

"Bye, Sage," he said, charming as ever, and walked away.

She cursed herself once she turned around and continued her journey to the library. She thought that she had made a complete fool of herself and couldn't believe that she couldn't keep it together in front of him just once.

When Sage had met Theodore in her third year, it had been like a movie. The oh-so-typical meet cute. She had dropped her things in the hall, he had bent down to help her pick her things up, their eyes connected as he handed her back her pencil, their hands brushing together as he did so. Sparks flew through the air. It was perfect. It was meant to be.

She had been nursing a monster crush on him ever since.

They had been pretty good friends ever since. If they were in a class together and didn't have their other friends with them they'd partner up on projects. Sometimes she'd see him at her quidditch games. Well, when Slytherin was playing against them.

Okay, they weren't the closest - but she still couldn't help but have a painfully big crush on the boy. He was just so handsome and funny and charming. She had tried to find a way to get closer to him, somehow spend time with him outside of classes, but she had yet to figure it out.

She had apparently found her way to the library while her thoughts were occupied with a certain Slytherin, and she suddenly remembered why she had come in the first place.

 _Right, Fred_ , she thought to herself as she opened the tall wooden doors. Her eyes trailed over the room, practically empty of students.

She would never not be in awe of the Hogwarts library. Especially at night. The dark, wooden room was lit up by candles and hanging lights, a soft glow cascading around the open room and bouncing off of the endless rows of books. There were tall shelves lining the sides of the room, books sparkled with a variety of dull colors, and in between them were gracefully giant arches, rounding out the room and making it seem more comfortable. It was filled with an almost dry warmth and smelled like cinnamon and frail book pages, a perfect combination in Sage's opinion.

As she searched through the rows, she saw the red head of hair that she had been searching for. He was also dressed down, clad in only a pair of light grey sweatpants and a chunky knit sweater. Sage had to admit that he looked rather cute like that, especially when he was frowning down at a book in his hand, his other hand moving upwards to scratch the back of his head.

She took a deep breath, pulled her top down a little bit and fixed up her hair.

"Fred, hey," she said as she walked up next to him, pretending to look for a book in the section that he was in.

He looked up from the book in his hands and looked at her with a surprised look, his eyes trailing over her body soon after, his eyes a bit wider than normal. It was weird - she got the same chills that she had gotten moments ago when Theo had looked at her.

"Sage," he said and cleared his throat. "What are you doing here?".

She chuckled and pushed her glasses up a bit more. "Same as you, I needed another book for," she paused and looked at what section they were in. "Divination."

He frowned but nodded and turned back to read the back of his book. Sage continued to pretend to look over the books on the shelf and took another deep breath, coaxing herself to do something. She thought about all of the things that he had done to her over the years and how helpless she had felt against him - now was finally the time where she felt like she had the tiniest advantage over him.

"You know, Fred, I was thinking," she started and turned to him. She pushed a strand of hair that had fallen out of her bun behind her ear and looked up at him.

"Hmm?" he asked, still scanning through the pages of the book in his hands, looking to make sure that it had the chapter that he needed for his assignment.

She took a step closer to him and rested a hand on his bicep, drawing his attention away from the book and to her. "I was just thinking about all the effort we put into hating each other."

"What? I don't hate you," Fred said, clueless and not at all hearing the flirty tone in her voice. Sage internally rolled her eyes at him, cursing him for not making this easy for her.

"Okay, then all the time you spend messing with me."

Fred rolled his eyes but nodded for her to continue, not being able to argue against the fact.

"And how all that time and effort could go to something much better."

She searched his eyes to see if he was catching on to what she was implying. He wasn't.

"All that wasted passion," she hinted again and took a step closer to him.

She had dressed the sluttiest that she felt comfortable to walk around the halls, was looking up at him with the most suggestive expression she could offer, was trying her best to imply what she meant to - she was really pulling out all the stops. If he didn't get it now, she had to give up.

Now it was Fred searching her face, obviously hearing what she was saying but not believing that Sage was being serious. He gave her a look that asked the question for him - _are you serious?_ To which she responded with a nod.

"Fuck, Sage," he cursed and grabbed her face in his hands before backing her up into the shelf of books. "You have no idea how bad I wanted this." He pulled her face up to his at the same time that he leant down, but she just chuckled and turned her face away from him, resulting in a kiss on her cheek. She lightly pushed him away by his chest and slid out from where she was caged into the book shelf, a sly smirk on her face as she did. She could already see the puzzled look on his face, and she could already feel the pride building in her chest from what he had just admitted. She was finally winning something against him.

"Sage, wha-"

"That," she said and poked him in his chest. "Was for pantsing me on the field."

"What?" he asked exasperatedly, his hands flying through the air in an angry gesture. "That was like a week ago!" he hissed, 'whisper yelling' because they were in the library and also pushing curfew. "And I only did it because you tried to do it to me first!".

Sage rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well then it was for all the other times. All the shit I've had to put up with over the years."

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair then trailed it down to rub over his face. "You're so fucking annoying, Sage. How the hell did that even 'get back at me'?" he asked with air quotes.

Sage shrugged, a smile still on her face from the magical feeling of having the upper hand. "I dunno, this is pretty embarrassing for you. Admitting you think about me and getting rejected and all."

Fred groaned. "I did _not_ admit anything and I did not get rej-"

"Yes you did," Sage sing-songed, still feeling as victorious as ever.

Fred opened his mouth to reply, but then it looked as if he had just realized something. "Wait a minute," he started, gasping a little bit. "You knew what you were doing this entire week, didn't you?".

Sage grinned and shook her head amusedly, not having to give a verbal reply to confirm.

"You little-" he stopped and shook his head, rubbing a hand down his face tiredly. "You drive me fucking crazy you little shit."

"Do I really?".

He opened his mouth to reply and defend himself, but the 10:00 bell that rang throughout the school, reminding them that they were out past curfew, cut him off.

"Oh, I should go," Sage said, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "Oh! Here's the book I was looking for," she said and grabbed a book. She really did need that book, Trelawney had asked them to grab a copy within the next week. "See you, Fred," she said happily as she walked away.

He shook his head and watched her, cursing her under his breath as she left.


	5. Chapter 5

After leaving the library, brooding on his walk back to his room and taking a shower that may or may not have taken a bit longer than usual, Fred decided that he wasn't going to let whatever had just happened in the library affect him. At least not externally.

He and Sage had had a weird relationship for years, mostly friends but with a dash of hatred. 'Frenemies', as George liked to call it. The actual actions had normally been mostly one sided, him picking on his younger sister's best friend and only getting glares and angry words from her in return. It was always fairly innocent, usually pranks that he used to play on his buddies at summer camps and things like that, but Sage had apparently decided to bring a whole other level into it. A whole other maddenly frustrating level at that.

He had to admit, she had actually bested him this time around - it didn't sit quite right with him. He was always the one to come out on top of these sorts of things. He was never one to lose.

As he dried his hair after the shower and then wrapped his towel around his waist, he vowed that he couldn't let her have this; couldn't let her sit in the satisfaction. He wasn't going to let the small glitch in the library affect him, and he knew that if Sage could play dirty, he could too.

He walked out of the bathroom and into his and George's closet, dropping his towel and throwing on some pajamas.

"Sage came by earlier looking for you," George told him from his bed.

Fred thought for a moment about a possible reason why she would have needed him. He didn't really feel like trying to explain to his brother what exactly was transpiring between him and Sage, he didn't feel like George would get it. He and Sage had particularly competitive and stubborn personalities, and they were the only ones who he thought would understand the little game that they were embarking upon.

"Yeah, she needed to ask me something about herbology," he said and stepped out of the closet. It made sense, he and Sage shared that class and George hadn't taken it. It was one of the only classes that could be shared between different years, and it wasn't a required one.

George hummed as he watched his brother hang up his towel in the bathroom, looking at him with a look that told Fred he wasn't fully convinced.

"What?" Fred asked with his arms crossed, unamused.

George shrugged. "I dunno, you guys have just always been weird. I feel like there's something else going on."

Fred chuckled and sat down on his bed. "Trust me, there's not. I don't know what weirdness you're thinking of."

George shrugged and turned back down to the quidditch magazine that he was flipping through, dropping the subject of Sage.

"You going to Luna's?" Fred asked.

"Nah, not tonight. Her roommate's in and she has some more homework."

Fred nodded, grabbed the book that he had gotten from the library.

George and Luna had been dating for a couple of years at that point. They met in detention, George for a prank gone wrong and Luna for trying to set some of the magical creatures free. She had said that the nargles had told her to do it, but none of the staff believed her.

George always believed her musings though. Whether he actually believed in all her theories and stories or was just humouring her, it really was quite cute. They got along so well, rarely fighting and always quickly working it out whenever they did.

Fred was admittedly a bit jealous of their relationship. Luna's roommate was normally in her boyfriend's room so George and Luna were normally over there, but when Fred did spend time with the two of them it was almost sickening how cute they were. It was plainly obvious how happy they were, and Fred wanted that with someone.

He wanted to hold someone's hand as they walked down the halls, wanted to go into town with a girl on the weekends, wanted someone in the stands to cheer for him when he played in his games. Or maybe someone already on the team who could cheer for him from the field.

The bottom line was, he wanted a girlfriend. He had had a few little things in the past, he had seen Katie a couple months ago, Padma in his 6th year, Penelope in his 5th. He had also had a few flings during his summers back at home, but none of those lasted more than a week or two. Sometimes no longer than one steamy night. He had never thought to be one who craved the intimacy of a long term relationship, but as he was growing up he learned that that might just be what he was looking for. He knew that it didn't make the most sense because he would graduate at the end of the year, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

His eyes traced over the words on the page but he knew he wasn't really reading. He would have to go back a few pages and re-read whatever he was attempting to understand.

The one person that stuck out in his mind when he thought about these things was Sage. He knew that he had always had some sort of lingering feelings there, but he just chalked it up to the tension between them and the fact that she was relatively attractive. Well, who was he kidding - she was one of the most beautiful girls that he had ever met.

She was sweet, funny, oddly smart but not pretentious in the slightest, and one of the most truly caring people that he had ever come to know - and not just that kind of person who pretended to care. She had such a huge heart and had always put others above herself ever since he had met her.

He knew that she was practically perfect and no one just platonically thought these things about a friend, but he had never been able to bring himself to do anything about it. Even though it may seem that they weren't great friends, seeing as they picked on and bickered with each other constantly, he really valued their friendship. When they weren't busy fighting they had a lot of fun, and he knew that if he ever truly needed her she would be there for him, regardless of whatever shit he had pulled the day before. He couldn't bring himself to do anything to jeopardize that, especially when she hadn't shown any interest in him in return.

He wouldn't let any of this hold him back from getting back at her though, for he would never let anything hold him back from besting others, especially when it came to Sage. There was just something particularly satisfying about messing with her. Maybe it was her reaction: she was always extra cute whenever she was mad.

He could feel his lips quirk up in a small smile and the thought and shook his head, flipping back a couple of pages and really starting to read what he needed to.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day during breakfast, Fred made sure to act extra unbothered. He acted as if nothing was wrong, talked with Sage how he always did, never broke eye contact, and he made sure that she knew that he wasn't bothered by a single thing.

He could tell that it upset her though. her little victorious smile was still on her face when she walked into the dining hall but it quickly turned into a small pout when she realized that Fred wasn't going to be a blushing, embarrassed mess just because of a rejected kiss. And the fact that he had told her he had been thinking about said kiss for 'so long'. It really was quite embarrassing, but he would never let her know that.

He couldn't help but find her pouting cute. She picked at her food and rested her chin in her palm for most breakfast. She might as well have been stomping her foot and crossing her arms over her face with a frown like a toddler it was so obvious. Maybe she was just that obvious to him because he watched her so much, but he didn't want to think about that.

In Herbology later that day, Fred decided that it was time to turn the tables. He had let her brood during breakfast and digest the fact that her little win hadn't been as big of one as she had thought it was, but now it was time for him to do his own trickery.

He knew that it was probably easier for Sage to get him flustered because there were already feelings present there, but he didn't lose faith in himself that he could get her hot and bothered for a second. He would just have to play it differently - maybe a bit slower and more thought out. She couldn't be as obvious as he realized Sage had been when he looked back on it.

He started off with a few casual brushes; when Sage would be choosing between Mandrakes, he would walk behind her and make sure to lightly press his front against her back - a light enough brush to be played off but enough for her to turn around and look at him.

He did a few more things like that that day, picking a leaf out of her hair and taking more time to do it than was needed, touching their thighs together under the table, brushing their elbows together every chance he got; really just anything to get her thinking about him. Touching him, in particular. He even pulled a couple of tricks out of her hat - whenever he had to talk to her, he made sure to place a hand over her forearm to get her attention.

He couldn't be positive that he had an effect on her, she really just looked at him with confusion more than anything else with the newfound physical contact, but there were a few times that he thought he saw a few dots of pink color her face.

That was another thing that he absolutely loved about Sage - how much she blushed. It was always easy to tell when she was flustered, angry, or embarrassed. His heart swelled every time she looked down to her lap in hopes to hide her flushed cheeks.

Then that night at quidditch practice, he decided to mess with her just a bit more. It wasn't anything too bad - he would just bring the bottom of his jersey up to his forehead to wipe away his sweat while flexing his abs a bit, sometimes when he wasn't even sweating and always angling himself toward Sage.

Most of the time she was too busy actually practicing to see him, but there were a couple of times that he caught her looking when he brought his shirt back down. His heart swelled with pride each and every time. He couldn't help but think about what it would be like if she looked at him like that all the time.

He didn't do much else than that throughout practice, deciding that he had done enough that day and that he would continue his teasings for as long as he could until Sage broke. He wasn't sure what 'breaking' meant, but the way that they were practically circling each other brought a spark of hope to his chest that it would be something that he would like.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sage wasn't stupid. She knew what Fred was doing.

After breakfast that morning when he didn't seem bothered at all, she just knew that he was planning something. She had had a feeling that it would be something similar to the tactics that she had used. She had prepared for him to try a few things that day, she just hadn't been prepared for them to actually work.

When he brushed up against her back, she could practically feel tingles take over every inch of skin where they made contact. Whenever their legs brushed, she could practically feel the heat radiate from his body and travel into hers, traveling up to her cheeks as well. When he flashed his abs, plainly obviously she might add, she couldn't help her mouth from salivating. She didn't think that anyone would have been able to help it though, his stomach was absolutely perfect.

She had gone into the day knowing what was to come, she just hadn't gone in knowing the effect it would have on her.

When she went to bed that night after a dinner filled with eye-contact, she didn't know what she was going to do the next day.

Did she continue to play their game with him and risk him getting even worse?

Did she give up and hope he would grow bored at some point?

She buried her face in her pillow and eventually fell asleep, her thoughts filled with a frustrating Weasley who somehow knew exactly how to rile her up.


	6. Chapter 6

"Do you just want to come over to mine after dinner?" George asked.

Sage and George were in Care of Magical Creatures, the only class other than herbology that she shared with upper classmen. It wasn't standard for a fifth year to be in the advanced class, but Mcgonnagal had agreed to level Sage up a couple of years because she was above average in the classes.

Hagrid had just told them that they had a new research assignment - learning the origins and evolution of a creature of their choice - and George had asked Sage to be his partner for it.

"Why can't we just go to the library?" Sage asked as she lifted her bag onto her shoulder and started to walk back towards the castle, seeing that class had been held in the magical forest that day.

George sped up to walk next to her, also carrying a book bag over his shoulder. "Because the library's boring. Pince is always shushing me whenever I do anything," he complained.

Sage chuckled and shook her head, "Maybe if you would actually do your homework you wouldn't have a problem."

George rolled his eyes. "So can we go back to mine or not?".

"Yeah, sure," she said as they approached the castle doors.

Sage knew that Fred would probably be there, which was something that really shouldn't have made her nervous. She had been avoiding him for the last couple of days, and she wasn't positive why she felt the need to. She didn't know if it was because she was scared that he would continue more of his antics or if she was scared of her own confusing feelings towards him, she had just felt that it would be easier to stay away.

It wasn't that she was having _feelings_ for him per se, she just hadn't thought that a few light touches and flirtatious comments could affect her as much as they did and it took her by surprise.

She had always had strong feelings towards him - but it was always those of anger and annoyance. Never anything else. She knew that he was attractive, had always heard other girls her age talking about him, but it had never really had an affect on her up until this point. It was a new weakness and it scared her.

She was just going to have to suck it up and do the project with his twin though. Was going to have to push whatever thoughts that were swimming in her head away.

At quidditch practice that afternoon it was announced that Oliver was sick and wouldn't be able to direct their practice so the duty fell on the oldest players on the team: the seventh years. Just to Sage's luck, the only seventh years on the team that year were the twins, leaving them to co-lead the drills and scrimmages.

George ended up directing everyone to pick a partner and run a few of the team's typical drills that everyone was familiar with.

Sage and Ginny grabbed their brooms and a quaffle and made their way to the opposite end of the field, rolling their eyes and complaining about how they didn't want to take orders from Ginny's older brothers as they went.

They got on their brooms and started passing the quaffle back and forth, throwing some more difficult catches and practicing like they normally did, but they soon started goofing around and not taking the drills too seriously. They saw it as a free day, like when you have a substitute teaching your class and you don't actually have to do the work.

Sage had flown over to Ginny to chase her and try to push her off her broom, Ginny having said something to piss her off, when Fred came over to their side of the field.

"This looks like good practice for our games!" he yelled up at them right as Sage made a move to shove Ginny from mid-air. "Totally legal!".

Ginny and Sage separated, each muttering an unconvincing 'sorry' and moving back to their positions.

"Sage, c'mere a minute," Fred said.

She rolled her eyes to Ginny but flew down, giving him a bored look and saying, "What."

He smirked at her, a hint of mischief present in his eyes. "I think," he started and moved to stand next to her where she was still straddling her broom. "You should move forward on your broom a bit." He then proceeded to place his hand on her lower back, if it could even be considered her back at that point, and nudged her forward as if she couldn't do it herself. He was so close to her, standing to her left and a little bit behind her, and she could feel his breath ghost over the back of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Oi shove off, Fred!" Ginny yelled at him from the air. "She knows how to ride a broom."

Fred didn't look up at Ginny, only continued to smirk at Sage, hand still feather light on her back, and said, "I'm sure she does," in a less than innocent manner.

How he managed to turn something as simple as riding a broom into some sort of innuendo Sage didn't know, she just cleared her throat and muttered a "fuck off," to him before flying back up into the air, catching the quaffle that Ginny had just thrown.

She could practically feel Fred watching her, and she was positive it was with his typical smirk. She knew when Fred managed to get her flustered she was shit at hiding it, and knowing that she had in fact proved that true again while he watched her in the air only flustered her even more. She just ignored him and focused on Ginny, hoping that she could figure out how to deal with the menace that was Fred another time.

~~~~~~~~~

During dinner, Sage realized how much Fred was really beginning to piss her off. Yes, she had pulled a dick move and stooped pretty low to try to embarrass him, but it was positively aggravating how frequently he felt the need to do whatever the hell he was doing to her in return.

All throughout the meal, it was practically impossible to ignore the smirky boy. She had tried to put as much space as she could in between them by sitting on the opposite end of the table but it was to no avail, for he soon moved to sit next to Ginny to "talk to her about quidditch", thus placing him right in front of Sage. She just knew that it was no coincidence how often their legs touched beneath the wooden surface.

That was one of the things that had always bugged her but was particularly getting on her nerves at the moment: how close Ginny and Fred were. Apart from Fred and George, Fred and Ginny were the closest out of all the Weasleys. Over the years, Sage had to spend a lot more time with him than she would have liked because he always seemed to be with her best friends. She couldn't count how many times she would be hanging out in Ginny's room and he would just show up. It was quite annoying.

It really didn't help that he now had a plausible reason to be next to Sage so often, it wasn't like Sage was going to stop hanging out with Ginny because she was avoiding her brother.

When dinner was finally over, Sage took a breath of relief. The peace didn't last for long however, for she soon remembered that she was meant to go to the twins room to work on her project with George.

"Fuck," she muttered when she walked into her room, knowing that she would have to turn right back around to leave for George's. She grabbed her book bag and threw in the few books that she had about Care of Magical Creatures. She had showered after practice and had thrown on a pair of jeans and a sweater for dinner, but she decided to quickly change into a pair of pajama pants instead. She was already not excited to do their project, she didn't need to be lounging around in jeans while doing it.

She eventually made the journey over to the twins room, the 10 step walk not taking nearly long enough. She took a deep breath and then knocked on the door, hiking her bag higher up her shoulder after doing so.

"It's open!" she could hear George's muffled voice yell from inside the door.

When she opened the door, she saw that both twins were on their respective beds, Fred with a book in hand and George hunched over on his mattress, looking between a few different books and writing something in a notebook.

"Okay, we can either do some sort of dragon or a unicorn, those are both the easiest," George said, not looking up from his book, while Sage closed the door behind her.

She had honestly already forgotten what the assignment was about but was soon remembering, rubbing a hand over her eyes from the sudden need for the use of her brain. "Uhh, let's do a dragon. More badass."

She heard Fred chuckle from his bed, but she didn't look over to him. She moved to sit next to George, moving a few stray books out of the way to make room for herself.

"Okay, yeah, that's what I was thinking," George said and finally looked up at her. "I was looking at the Ridgeback, but we can do whichever one."

"Sounds good to me," Sage said and reached in her bag for a book, thankful that she grabbed one that had plenty about dragons in it.

They quickly got to work researching about the creature, taking notes and discussing each of the points that Hagrid wanted them to cover before they would write up a final draft when they finished.

She felt Fred's eyes on her multiple times throughout the evening, but she didn't look up once. She just knew that he would send her a cocky wink or maybe even step it up to a lude gesture, and she was done with his antics for the night. She just wanted to get their project done and go back to her room.

Fred couldn't help but stare at Sage. He tried to focus on his book - he really did - but when she was sitting on the bed across the room from him looking soft from the sleepiness that was obvious in her eyes, he couldn't help himself. He couldn't believe how utterly perfect she looked in just pajamas, her sweater a couple sizes too big and engulfing her hands every once and a while when she didn't pay mind to bunching them up. She looked so focused as she read, a slight frown furrowing her brows as her soft brown eyes ghosted over the pages. He found it way too cute how frustrated she got at the one strand of hair that kept falling out of her bun and wouldn't keep away from her face, blocking her vision.

He knew that he needed to stop looking at her, thinking about her like that. He knew that that wasn't how friends saw each other and that he needed to work around whatever feelings were arising in him recently. She was his little sister's best friend, was _his_ friend; he couldn't start anything with her. Hell, she would never even want to start anything with him, going by the glares that he seemed to get from her all the time or the way she was avoiding him at the moment.

He shook his head to rid his thoughts of her and turned back to his book, finally continuing to read.

"I can just write up the final draft later, we have plenty of stuff," Sage offered.

George shook his head. "No, c'mon, we can do it together."

She shook her head with a chuckle. "No, George, that wouldn't even work. It's fine, really. I don't mind."

He searched her face for a moment. "You sure?".

"Yeah. Don't you want to go be at Luna's or something?".

A sheepish smile took over his face and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, actually. She invited me over."

"Go," Sage said and pushed him off of the bed and up onto his feet. She also got up and started to pack up her stuff, grabbing all of the books as well as the papers that they had been taking jumbled notes on.

"Thanks, you're the best," George said and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before leaving, eager to get to his girlfriend.

Sage buckled up her bag and checked around to make sure that she didn't forget anything before turning around.

"You sure you don't want to stay? Hangout for a bit?" Fred asked, his arms tucked behind his bed where he was propped up against the headboard.

"No, Fred," she said with an eye roll. She was sleepy and had no extra room in her brain to deal with him.

As she opened the door to leave, Fred said, "Alright fine, Princess. See you tomorrow."

She reached her hand behind her and flipped him off before leaving and shutting the door behind her.


	7. Chapter 7

Sage opted to sleep in the next day and skip breakfast, basking in the fact that it was a Saturday which meant she had no classes to get to. She had vaguely remembered waking up and sleepily looking up to see Hermione get ready for the day, but she had just buried her head back into her pillows and floated back into the fluffy warmth of sleep.

"Sage," she heard a soft voice say while gently nudging her into consciousness. "Saage."

"Mmph," Sage grunted into the pillows and rolled over to further bury herself into her bed.

"Sage," Ginny said, more impatient this time, and shook her less gently.

"What," she mumbled, voice muffled by the feathers in her pillow.

Ginny huffed and layed down on her back next to her on the bed, nudging her again with her elbow.

Sage opened her eyes, a frown set on her face as she looked at Ginny whose head was tilted to the side to look back at her.

"I'm bored," Ginny said.

Sage groaned and rolled onto her back to look up at the ceiling, rubbing her eyes awake after realizing that she wasn't going to be able to fall asleep again.

"Don't care," she grunted.

"C'mon, let's do something today," Ginny pleaded and practically rolled half on top of Sage, her chin resting on her chest to look up at her face.

Sage yawned. "Let me wake up first at least."

Ginny smiled and rolled back to the other side of the bed, fingers twiddling restlessly over her stomach. "Where's Hermione?".

Sage shrugged. "I dunno, I think she said something about going out with Harry and Ron this morning, but I was half asleep so I can't be sure," she said and got out of bed to walk into the bathroom, deciding that she might as well brush her teeth and get ready for the day if she wasn't going back to sleep.

Ginny was quick to follow, standing by Sage at the bathroom counter while she started to wash her face. "So how's it going with my brother?".

Sage grunted, something that she seemed to be doing a lot of that morning, and bent down over the sink to splash water onto her face, ringing off the foamy residue of her face wash. "Don't wanna talk about it," she said after her face was clean and patted her face dry with a towel.

She really didn't want to talk about him, mostly because she didn't know what to say. She hadn't only been avoiding him, she had also just been avoiding the thought of him. Everytime he graced her thoughts, she was filled with a mix of anger and something else. Something foreign. She didn't want to put her finger on the other feeling, scared that she wouldn't like what she would find. So she didn't try.

"What the hell are you even doing though? He's been acting weird lately - everytime I bring you up he goes all quiet. Did you finally 'get back at him' or whatever?".

Sage could feel herself blush, but it was luckily covered up as she rubbed lotion over her face. She shrugged again. "Not really, I kind of gave up," she lied, not wanting to explain the way she and Ginny's older brother were evilly toying with each other's emotions. "I don't know why'd he be acting weird."

Ginny chuckled. "Maybe he has a crush on you," she teased. She had been teasing Sage about that for years, always blaming her brother's antics on a school boy crush. Sage was pretty sure she was joking though.

"God no," she scoffed as if Ginny couldn't have said something further from the truth.

Ginny shrugged with a smile and it was apparent that she hadn't given up on the idea.

"Speaking of crushes," Sage started as she lined her toothbrush with toothpaste and ran it under the water. "Any girls caught your eye?".

Ginny shook her head and said, "Not really," but Sage could see the way Ginny looked down at the ground.

"C'mon," Sage teased and kicked Ginny's leg with her foot that was clad in a fuzzy sock. "I can tell there's someone you fancy, you're just not telling me."

Ginny chuckled nervously, still looking down as her foot nudged something on the ground. "There's not, I swear."

Ginny had known she was gay ever since her second year. It all became clear after her first kiss with a boy, an inexperienced peck on the lips that lasted far too long after an awkward date in Hogsmeade. When their lips touched, she immediately knew she didn't like it, wouldn't like it with anyone of the opposite gender, and everything started to fit into place after that. Everything suddenly seemed to make sense The way certain magazines caught her eye, how she wanted to be 'friends' with the prettiest girls she could find, how practically obsessed she was with one of Charlie's girlfriends when she was younger.

She had immediately told Sage, and Sage couldn't have been more accepting and encouraging. Sage was the real reason she had dated her first girlfriend, Megan Jones. She had convinced Ginny to talk to her after months of intense eye contact, had assured her that she didn't need to worry about being rejected and that if she had been, Sage would have been waiting right behind her to comfort her.

Sage had known Ginny for 3 years now and had known of her sexuality for 2, and she knew when Ginny had a love interest in mind. She knew the way Ginny would look down to her fidgeting hands or the ground whenever she was smitten - her tell signs were not at all subtle. Why she didn't want to tell Sage about a love interest she didn't know, but she wasn't going to push it. Instead, she just continued to brush her teeth and looked to the mirror.

"You want to go into Hogsmeade and get lunch?" she asked with a foamy mouth, realizing she needed to actually eat food to rid the pang of hunger from her stomach.

Ginny nodded as she rearranged Sage's products on the countertop. "Yeah," she said and paused, seeming to contemplate saying something. "We should invite Hermione if she gets back from whatever she's doing."

Sage was confused for a moment, her toothbrush halting in her mouth. "Why? We never invite her along unless it's with the whole group."

Ginny didn't have an answer right away, just shrugged and looked down to her intertwined fingers.

Sage continued obliviously brushing her teeth, but the brush was soon coming to a stop in her mouth again as her eyes widened.

"Wait," she said and bent over the sink to spit her toothpaste out. She turned to Ginny, a slight smile on her wide open mouth. "Do you like Hermione? Is she the girl you've been crushing on recently?". Sage couldn't believe that she hadn't seen it before. "Don't lie to me."

Ginny rolled her eyes but knew she couldn't further hide it from her best friend. " _Maybe_ I have a _small_ cru-".

"Oh my god!" Sage interrupted with a squeal. "That's so great, you guys would be so cute."

Ginny shook her head amusedly. "Slow down, we don't even know if she likes girls yet."

Sage shook her head. "She totally does. I can tell."

"Whatever, we'll see."

A devious smile took over Sage's face. "We will," she said and walked back out of the bathroom.

"Sage," Ginny warned. "Do not do anything."

"I won't," Sage said, but the smile that was on her face said otherwise.

"Sage," Ginny warned again.

Sage knew that Ginny could fuck her up if she wanted, so she put her hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright. I won't, I promise." Ginny nodded her head, seemingly satisfied. "Unless the perfect opportunity arises and I-"

"Sage!" Ginny scolded.

Sage just giggled and walked into her closet to find some clothes for the day. She looked around for a moment but soon decided on some loose jeans and a thin, tighter sweater, seeing as Spring was nearing and the weather was beginning to show it.

Right when she walked out of the closet, ready to do her hair and throw on a bit of makeup, Hermione walked in the door.

" 'Mione!" Sage cheered when the door shut behind her. Hermione looked at her with a confused look, probably wondering why Sage was greeting her so much more enthusiastically than normal. Sage could practically feel Ginny's warning glare from where she sat on Sage's bed. "We were just about to head into Hogsmeade for some lunch and were wondering if you wanted to join us?".

Hermione smiled, pausing in the process of toeing off her shoes and choosing to leave them on. "Yeah, that sounds great actually. Harry, Ron and I were just out on a walk and I'm famished."

"Great! I'm just going to do my hair," she said and walked into the bathroom, leaving the other two girls in the bedroom.

As she pulled back the front of her hair and clipped it behind her head, she heard a bit of small talk, but unfortunately there was nothing too saucy. After making sure that all of her makeup was good, she exited the bathroom.

"Okay, you guys ready?" she asked.

They both nodded and the three girls left the room together.

Once they sat down at the Three Broomsticks, Sage was hoping that there could be a bit of flirting and progression in 'Hinny', the couple name that she had already come up with, but the conversation was immediately steered towards her.

"So, Sage, how's it going with Theodore?" Hermione asked. Her crush wasn't a secret to anyone, years of unrequited staring and lusting was hard to go unnoticed.

"It's not going," Sage replied with a discouraged look.

Hermione chuckled. "Well... what can we do?."

"We?" Ginny asked, looking as if she would rather not be a helper in the task of getting Sage together with Theodore. She had always had a weird feeling about the boy, something told her that her best friend shouldn't get too involved with him.

"Yes. We are going to help her," Hermione said with no room for argument, and it looked as if Ginny wouldn't want to argue with her anyway. She just nodded her head and gave in, much faster than she ever would have given into one of Sage's requests.

"Seriously, I've tried with him, there's nothing that you guys can do to help," Sage said and took a sip of her water.

Ginny scoffed out a laugh.

"What?" Sage asked.

"You haven't done shit!" Ginny said with a shake of her head, leant back in her chair with her legs spread out in front of her. Hermione nodded her head, seeming to agree with Ginny in an almost apologetic way.

"Yes I have!" Sage said exasperatedly, which rewarded her with two very unconvinced and unamused looks. "Okay, I haven't done much. But it's hard!".

Hermione nodded her head. "I know, but it's been what, two years now?". Sage nodded her head shamefully. "You have to do something. Otherwise it's just going to continue to be painful."

"I know, I know, you're right," Sage said. "I just don't know what to do. I'm not very good at this stuff."

"That's where we come in!" Hermione said, looking at Ginny one more time to make sure that she was in on it too. Ginny nodded her head, but it was accompanied by an eye roll.

For the rest of lunch they discussed their 'plan of action' which mostly consisted of making more efforts to talk to him in their shared class, seeking him out at quidditch games, and finally, the big one, asking him to study with her. Hermione had originally just wanted Sage to ask him on a date, a real date with food and stuff, but Sage had immediately shot it down, claiming that that was much too big and too scary.

"But why? Then you'll just know if he likes you back or not. I don't understand why people don't just straight up ask instead of dancing around the topic for so long," Hermoine had said to her.

Sage then proposed asking him to share his textbook in class, her logical 'big next step', and they then compromised with asking him to study. It was still scary for Sage, but then she could at least play it off if he said no, could claim that she just needed help in transfigurations.

Once they finished their meal, they leisurely walked through the town before heading back to the castle, none of them needing to go into any of the stores to buy anything. She really hoped that she wasn't imagining the way Hermione and Ginny's arms brushed together as they walked and she also hoped that they didn't see her smile as she watched them.

The rest of the day passed quickly, filled with laughter as Sage and her friends enjoyed their saturday sitting on the common room couches, most of the people they knew in Gryffindor also having chosen to hang out in the common room that day. Someone had whipped out exploding snap, and from then until dinner was a blur of flying cards, sparks, and laughter.

After dinner was finished, everyone delightfully full from the delicious roast chicken that had been served that night, Sage had decided to go back to her and Hermione's room to finish her and George's paper. She didn't have any plans that night and was feeling productive for some reason, and she wasn't going to waste that.

She finished it in only a little more than an hour, the clock reading only 9:00 by the time she was finished. She went to place the papers in her book bag so that she wouldn't forget them on Monday, and when she opened the bag she found that she had accidentally packed a couple of George's books in her bag the other day as she was leaving.

She picked up the books and left her room, deciding to just go give them to him then in case he needed them for something.

She left the room, books in hand, and hoped that Fred wouldn't be there when she arrived.


	8. Chapter 8

Sage knocked on the door, book in hand, and planned to quickly drop it off without having to interact with anyone other than George. She had been having too many confusing and contradicting feelings about Fred lately, and she did not need to confuse herself anymore than she already had.

The door opened after a moment and just to her luck, revealed Fred - clad in nothing but a pair of plaid pajama bottoms. It seemed that all guys somehow looked amazing in those specific pants, but Fred somehow made it ten times more hot. They hung low on his hips, revealing his prominent v-line that rested below his faint abs, the dark red pattern contrasting beautifully against his skin. It didn't help that his hair was still a bit wet from the shower that she guessed he had taken, his bright red hair muted to a deeper auburn color and looking to be messily towel-dried and almost fluffy.

"Well, hello, Sage," he said cockily, watching her look at him.

She brought her eyes up to his, reluctantly breaking her eye contact with his bare upper body. "Is George here?".

Fred shook his head. "No, he's at Luna's. Probably won't be back anytime tonight." He said it with a bit of a smirk, almost as if he was implying something. Sage didn't want to think about whatever hidden meaning he was implying. She knew, just didn't want to think about it.

"I accidentally grabbed these," she said and handed him the book.

He took it from her hand, purposefully brushing their fingers together as he did. "I'll make sure he gets them."

She nodded, both flustered from Fred's state and also angry at how he could make her that way. And how he obviously knew it. "Also tell him to owl me, I finished the paper but I was looking over the directions and it seems that we forgot to do a piece of the assignment."

Fred nodded and she turned around to walk away, hoping that she could just push away whatever mixed feelings she had about the very shirtless and very aggravating boy and sleep it off that night.

"You sure you don't want to come in? I mean, I do have an empty room," Fred said with his signature smirk.

Sage was practically fuming as she turned around to face him. He had gotten on her last nerve, and he needed to quit his little act. "No, Fred, I do not want to come in."

Fred looked all too amused at her obvious annoyance with him. "You sure, Sage? Wouldn't want to waste a perfectly good opportunity."

She had had it. She lunged towards him, jabbing a finger into the middle of his chest as she backed him into his room. "You have got to quit it," she hissed out.

"Quit what?" Fred asked with an obnoxiously innocent smile.

She shut the door behind her, not wanting anyone who was in the common room a few doors down to hear them. She closed in on him even more, their chests almost touching with how close they got. "You know exactly what, Fred. I've had it. I'm not going to deal with this anymore."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, still playing the innocent act.

"Fred."

He rolled his eyes, an amused look in his eyes and a smirk gracing his lips. He was enjoying this all too much. "If you're referring to what I think you're referring to, then you're saying that it's been working."

She was silent for a moment, not really sure how to respond. "No, that's- that's not-"

His cheshire cat grin took over even more of his face as she stuttered at his accusation. "Oh, Sage, I think it has been. I think you're frustrated. _Very_ frustrated." He didn't need to actually say the words to imply that it was sexual frustration. Whether that was true or not, she hated the accusation.

"Fuck you, Fred," she said and pushed him back on his shoulder, not having much room to do so because of how close they were to each other.

He bent his head down, his smirk meeting her scowl, their faces so close that their noses were almost touching. "I think you're just mad because I beat you at your own game."

Sage huffed, averting her eyes from his because he had hit the nail right on the head. "I dunno what you're on about," she murmured.

"Oh, I think you do. I think you thought you bested me back in the library last week, and I think you're pouting because you got a taste of your own medicine." They were so close, an unbelievably thick tension resting in the small space between them. It felt like the room got ten degrees hotter and Sage could feel her body temperature rise with it. "Do I fluster you, Sage? Do I get you all hot?". 

She still wasn't looking into his eyes, not wanting to give away more than she already was. "You're an asshole."

"Am I?".

She finally looked up at him, and the raw hunger that she saw in his darkened eyes almost made her cower away. She didn't get the chance to though, because before she knew it he was bending down and his lips were meeting hers in a searing kiss.

Her eyes remained open in shock for a moment, her lips not responding right away. She was in utter surprise as his lips moved against hers, a million thoughts flooding her brain.

What the hell did this mean? What the fuck were they doing? Should she push him away?

Her lips stayed still as she tried to contemplate the meaning and repercussions of their actions, but when she felt his hand on the back of her neck tilting her head up, she finally gave herself into the kiss. Fuck rational thinking. She needed this, especially with all the pent up sexual frustration (that he had been completely right about).

The kiss was absolutely amazing. Outstanding. Breathtaking. Phenomenal. She could practically feel sparks of heat exploding between the two of them as their lips melded together. It was anything but gentle, the angry passion between the two of them translated into bites and harsh grabs onto whatever they could find on the other.

Even through the harshness of the kiss, she could still feel how incredibly soft his lips were. She grabbed the back of his hair and pulled, feeling annoyed for some reason that his lips were too perfect for her to hate the kiss, but all that resulted in was a moan that traveled from Fred's mouth into her own. An all too delicious sounding moan that did things to her she would never admit.

"You're so fucking annoying," Sage breathlessly said after pulling away.

Fred used his hand on the back of her neck to pull her in again, not caring about what she had to say and only focusing on the feeling of her lips on his.

"Seriously," Sage said, pulling away from him again. "I can't fucking believe you."

"You started it," he defended, just as breathless as Sage.

"Yeah because you've been messing with me for years!".

"Shut up," he said and pulled her in again.

Neither of them knew what exactly they were doing or what was going to come out of it; all they both knew was how good kissing the other felt. After they got used to the feeling and movement of the others lips on their own, they both sunk into the kiss. Their lips moved at the same pace and they both tilted their heads at the perfect angles, their mouths seeming to slot together like puzzle pieces. It was almost as if they could tell what the other was about to do, somehow angling their heads in the same way at the same time, almost all of their movements accidentally synchronized.

They had been dancing around each other for weeks and it was all finally coming to a head. It was almost unbelievable that all the teasing that they had been doing was actually resulting in something.

"Wait," Sage said after having pulled away, lips a tantalizing shade of red. "Are we seriously doing this?".

Fred rolled his eyes, just as breathless but with a terrifyingly hungry look in his eyes. "Yes. You are not leaving me with blue balls again."

Sage chuckled, leaning down to rest her forehead on his chest for a moment. "Affected you that much, huh?".

Fred gripped the back of her hair and tugged her head up to look at him, eliciting a gasp from Sage at the movement. "Yes. Now take off your clothes."

Sage gulped but nodded, not at all opposed to whatever was about to happen. The second her shirt was off of her head, she was immediately pulled into another kiss, Freds lips moving even more eagerly against her own. She could feel herself being led further into his room, but she was still taken by surprise when she felt the backs of her legs hit his bed and fell back onto it due to a not-so-gentle shove from Fred.

She settled herself further back on the bed while propped up on her forearms, watching as Fred climbed over her on the bed. Her eyes were wide as she raked them over his body, finally getting to take a good look without having to pretend she wasn't. Her fingers itched to feel the expanse of his muscled body and her lips craved the feeling of his smooth skin, but she knew that they didn't have time for any of that. She would just have to map out every inch of his smooth, muscled skin another time. With the way he was looking at her, holding himself up with his hands positioned on either side of her body, she knew that he was craving satisfaction just as much as she was, if not more.

"I still hate you, you know," Sage said, wanting to make sure that he didn't think that she was admitting some sort of undying love for him.

He chuckled and bit his lip in an almost amused way. "I hate you back," he said and leant down to kiss her again.

She looped his arms around the back of his neck and pulled him closer. She felt like she was on fire and she needed to feel him everywhere, feel his hard body pressed up against every inch of her own.

He had started to grind against her, moving his hips against hers at a tantalizingly slow pace, but the friction it brought still felt good, relieving her need just the smallest bit. Her legs had been positioned on either side of him, one knee bent upwards and the other flat on the mattress, but she brought them up and entwined them behind his hips, pulling him into her and thrusting upwards at the same time. Fred moaned at the action, rutting his hips into her even harder than before.

She could feel his hard length moving against her, and her breath caught in her throat when she actually concentrated on how big it was. She had assumed since he was so tall he would be well endowed, but she would have never guessed it would be as big as it was, if she was guessing right from what she could feel. She just hoped that she could take it.

She felt him reach underneath her to unclasp her bra and she removed her arms from his neck to aid in the process of getting it off and throwing it somewhere else in the room.

She whined when he sat up and pulled his lips off of hers. He sat in between her legs, her ankles still loosely looped around his waist, and he was looking at her with darkened eyes and pupils blown wide, eyes drinking in every inch of exposed skin.

"Fred," she practically whined.

"Sorry," he muttered and pulled his eyes away from her. He just couldn't believe that he was actually getting to see her like this, was actually going to finally get to have her in the way that he had been dreaming of for far too long.

He shook his head of any thoughts that he had about appreciating the moment or trying to wrap his head around what was happening and instead let his other needs take over. The need that was pressing against his pants and creating a wet spot against the fabric.

Sage yelped when Fred yanked both her pajama pants and underwear down, leaving her completely exposed on the bed. She didn't get to think about it for long, however, for he was quickly on top of her again, devouring her mouth with fervency.

He held himself up with one forearm beside Sage's head and his other hand started to explore lower. He brought his hand to cup her breast, letting a moan slip from his mouth and into hers at the feeling. He couldn't count how many times he had dreamed of what her breasts felt like and his dick hardened even more in his pants if that was even possible.

Sage hand started to squirm and writhe on the bed as they kissed, a familiar ache having taken over her lower stomach. Her most sensitive area was craving touch, she needed release and she needed it fast.

Fred removed his lips from hers and started to kiss downwards, his lips pressing down her chin and neck, sucking a couple bruises as he went. He made his way to her chest and took a second to sit back and admire her, eyes glued to what he would describe as perfection. He leaned in and took one of her nipples into his mouth, sucking on it for a moment and then circling it with his tongue.

Sage's head leant back and her back arched, the small amount of pleasure from his mouth on her nipple sending more waves of arousal down her spine. The ache in her stomach was growing and she could feel that she was beyond wet, and she just needed some sort of stimulation.

As if Fred could hear her thoughts, his hand trailed down her stomach - sending chills up and down her entire body - and his fingers finally touched exactly where she needed them to.

Two of his long fingers dipped into her wetness, moving in and out of her a couple of times, and he then trailed them upwards, bringing the wetness to her clit and beginning to circle it.

Sage couldn't help the sounds that were coming out of her mouth; the sensation of his mouth on her other nipple now and his fingers working over her was bordering on overwhelming.

He brought his mouth up to her mouth again, swallowing the moans that were coming out her mouth, and continued to work her with his fingers.

Sage was moving with him now, arching her back and trying to create more friction. In the back of her mind she knew that she looked completely desperate, but she couldn't care when it felt so good. Not with Fred.

"Fred," she said after having pulled her lips away from his. "Fuck me."

Normally, Fred would love to tease her more and make her beg for it, but he couldn't neglect his cock any longer. He was painfully hard and just needed to be inside of her.

"Yeah, okay," he said and quickly crawled off of her, having to force himself away from her warm and soft skin, having to force his eyes away from her naked body. He grabbed a condom from his nightstand drawer and grabbed his wand that was laying on top of it, muttering a quick 'silencio' so that they wouldn't have to worry about noise.

Standing at the foot of the bed, he took his pants and boxers down in one, his hardness springing out when he pulled the waistband down. It took everything in him not to stroke himself while he looked at her, but he just wanted to be inside of her. Quickly.

Sage gulped when she finally saw him naked, her eyes trained on one spot. Her suspicions had been correct, if not undershooting a little bit. She also trailed her eyes over the rest of his body, fully appreciating what looked like it was sculpted by gods.

He climbed on top of her again, his lips quickly finding hers and kissing her again, quick and needy.

Sage reached down to stroke him slowly, having seen the angry purple head and knowing that he needed relief. He moaned into her mouth and thrusted up into her hand, quickly pulling away after and scrambling to tear open the condom package. Once it was open, he quickly slid it on and positioned himself in between her legs.

Sage's head was lying on a pillow, her chin pointed downwards so that she was looking at him with hooded and needy eyes. He looked at her with a silent question and she quickly nodded, needing him inside of her yesterday.

He slowly began to slide inside of her, knowing that he was a bit bigger than normal and should take it slow, and Sage tossed her head back into the pillow as he went. His mind and body went crazy as her heat enveloped him, feeling as if liquid velvet was wrapping around him. It took everything in him to not immediately begin to thrust in and out of her.

Once he was finally fully in her, their hips pressed together, Sage looked up at him.

"Move," she said in a breathless voice.

He slowly slid almost all of the way out of her and then slammed back in, causing her to involuntarily throw her head back once more. He continued moving at a torturously slow pace because he didn't want to hurt her.

"Fuck, Fred. Faster," she commanded.

He picked up the pace a little bit, resting back on his knees and still moving in a careful way. Girls had gotten hurt from him before and he didn't want to risk that with Sage, he couldn't stand the thought of him putting her in any pain.

"Fred," she groaned. "Faster." He picked up his pace a bit, still not as fast as she would have liked. "Is that all you got? It's like fucking a turtle. Is this all the 'Great Fred Weasley' is-"

She was cut off when he slammed particularly hard into her to shut her up. She could feel him in places that she had never felt, feeling like he was literally joining some of her intestines.

"Shut up," he growled, moving to tower over her. "You're so fucking annoying," he said and thrusted into her again, _hard,_ causing her to release another breathless moan. "Can't even shut up when you're getting fucked."

"I would hardly call this getting fucked," she spat at him.

He chuckled in an evil way that caused a nervousness to slowly creep into Sage. He leant down to her so that he was talking into her ear and murdered, "Fine, won't try to ease you into it."

"Ease me into what? Your dick's not that big, Fred. It's not like i'm some fragile virgin who can't-"

She couldn't finish her sentence again when he pulled back and slammed into her again, having pulled all the way out and re-entering. A grin took over his face with how quickly he could shut her up. He took up a fast pace, slamming his length as far into her as he could.

He then picked up one of her legs and threw it over his shoulder, yanking her down the bed and towards him as he used the new angle to go deeper. He was manipulating her as if she was a doll, pushing her leg as far back as it would go and then even more. He was secretly hoping it hurt a little.

Sage was letting out moans that she couldn't conceal with every thrust, her eyes shut and her fingers itching for something to grip onto.

"What, Sage?" Fred asked, voice breathless and a little choppy from the quick movements that were shaking the bed. "Don't have anything to say?".

"Shut up," she moaned.

He picked up her other leg and threw it over her shoulder, leaning over her and angling his knees further apart so that he could angle himself perfectly to thrust into her.

Sage brought her hands up behind his back, gripping into his skin. She could feel herself scratching marks up and down his back, but she could honestly care less. She needed something to grip onto and she also still had a burning hatred for him in her stomach.

" _Fuck_ ," Fred muttered, voice breathless. It did things to Sage's stomach that she would never admit.

He reached his fingers down through their tangled limbs in between her legs and began to circle over her clit again. His movements were sloppy from the fast pace that he was still moving at, but it still flooded Sage's body with sparks of pleasure.

Sage couldn't believe the sensations that she was feeling at the moment. She could feel him deep in her stomach and the delicious drag of him sliding in and out of her, and now with his fingers over her clit she couldn't even process all the pleasure that was coursing through her body. She almost never wanted the feeling to end, but she could also feel her orgasm approaching and could feel herself chasing it.

"Fred," she groaned, barely getting the words out. " 'M close."

"Me too," he grunted.

He sat back once again, still tightly gripping her legs over his shoulders, and he moved even faster.

He still kept his fingers positioned over her, not having to focus on moving them because her body was moving enough under him.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Sage was murmering, the familar tingles in her stomach.

She threw her head back and let out a particularly loud moan when she felt her orgasm take over her body in waves, nothing else registering to her in the moment except for the intense feeling that seemed to be everywhere. She didn't care what sounds she was making or what Fred was doing, she just threw her head back and rode her climax out, twitching and writhing as it worked its way through her.

Fred could feel her clench around him as she finished, and his movements became jerky as he came too, strings of curses falling out of his mouth as he finished.

The room was silent except for their panting, Fred still buried inside of Sage.

Neither one of them had ever come so hard and they both were processing it, eyes closed and chests rising and falling.

Fred finally started to slide out of her, Sage wincing at the sensitivity. He flopped down next to her on the bed, the sides of their bodies pressed together as they stared up at the ceiling.

"Fuck," Sage said, both looking and sounding completely wrecked.

"Yeah," Fred said in return.

After another moment of silence, Sage giggled. The back of her mouth came up to cover her mouth as the giggle turned into full on laughter, her other hand grabbing her stomach.

"What?" Fred asked with an amused smile and looked at her.

She paused in the laughter for a moment to look at him but even more laughter spilled out of her mouth when she did. Fred then started to chuckle, not knowing exactly what was so hilarious but somehow finding it funny too.

They both laughed on the bed until their stomachs hurt, neither of them knowing what they were laughing at.

When Sage finally calmed down, she wiped a tear from her eye and took a deep breath, light chuckles still taking over her chest.

She stood up from the bed and started to find her clothes with a smile still on her face, not really caring to hide her naked body from Fred.

Fred propped himself halfway up on the bed and watched her as she got dressed, also not caring about his nakedness.

Once she was back into her clothes, she moved to stand in front of him on the bed and he moved to sit on the edge of the bed so that she was standing in between his legs.

"I'm gonna go," she said, a satisfied and cheeky smile still plastered on her face.

There wasn't an ounce of awkwardness in the room, even though they didn't exactly know why they just fucked and what it meant. They were both just so comfortable with each other that it was impossible to feel awkward with one another.

"Okay," Fred said, a similarly satisfied smile on his face as well.

Sage contemplated it for a moment but then bent down to give him a quick peck on the mouth. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you," he said and watched as she walked out of the door.


	9. Chapter 9

  
When Sage woke up the next morning, she was surprised to find that she felt completely at ease - and not only because of the satisfaction that was still coursing throughout her entire body. She knew that she should have been feeling regretful or embarrassed or nervous about seeing Fred, but she felt none of those things. She didn't even feel the urge to ignore her hungry stomach and skip breakfast, something that she would have done if she felt the need to avoid Fred.

She was a bit confused about why the night before had happened and wanted to know what it meant, but she had no reason to feel embarrassed or fret too much about it. She just climbed out of bed and moved to the bathroom to quickly get ready for the day before breakfast.

Fred on the other hand woke up with just a few more nerves present in his stomach. It wasn't because of embarrassment or regret, _definitely_ not regret, but more just about what would come of it.

You see, Fred had always had eyes for Sage. It was never too big of a crush and it didn't deter him from having other relationships - it wasn't like he was in love with her or anything - but he had always noticed her just a bit more than he had other girls. Her hair that somehow always looked as if it would be soft to the touch, her big, brown eyes, her skin that always looked as if she had just come home from a sunny holiday. Don't even get him started on her figure, he could write endless poems and sonnets about it if he let himself, quill scratching infinite words onto paper about how she somehow made the quidditch uniform look hot.

His crush on her had only grown as they aged, and it had started to get a bit out of control that year. He had hoped that he could maybe get it out of his system if they spent a night together; he hoped that once he had her he could have one good memory, store it in the back of his mind and move on with his life.

That was not the case.

The reason he woke up with an uneasiness stored in his belly was that he knew deep down that his feelings had only grown. Now that he knew what it was like to be with her in that way, even if it had been quick and fueled by anger, he couldn't just forget it. It was the best sex that he had ever had - nothing else that he had ever done could compare.

He also had a fear in the back of his mind that they somehow ruined their friendship. Even if it seemed like they sometimes hated each other, they had been real friends ever since Sage was friends with Ginny, and he valued that friendship endlessly - feelings be damned. He knew that if she regretted it things could turn awkward and he just prayed to Merlin that she didn't feel that way. He wasn't all that worried though - Sage had always been laid back and easygoing. She wasn't the type of person to get too weird about sex and he knew she wasn't a virgin. He never knew though, she might be weird just because it was him.

As he started to get ready for the day alongside George, he still had an anxiousness in him that he couldn't shake. He didn't know if it was because he was worried that he ruined what they had or worried because he loved it so much.

Fred and Sage arrived at the dining hall at the same time, Fred walking with George and Sage with Hermione. They sat down at the table at the same time as well, choosing to sit directly across from each other. When they initially made eye contact for the first time that morning while Hermione spoke about their upcoming potions assignment, there was an upward tilt in each of their lips and a glint of something mischievous in their eyes.

You see, neither Fred nor Sage were one to be embarrassed or bashful about this sort of thing.

Sure, Fred had been a bit nervous about what would come of their night together, but when he could see that Sage obviously wasn't worried about the same thing his worries melted away. And he wasn't about to be all bashful just because he had fucked her brains out the night before. At least going by the sounds and faces she was making, he had nothing to be embarrassed about.

They both were in fact filled with immense satisfaction as they sat with their other friends, neither of them paying attention to Hermione and instead thinking about what had transpired between them the night before. It wasn't just _that_ kind of satisfaction either, not that both of them weren't feeling particularly happy when they woke up that morning, but instead the satisfaction that came with winning.

They had been playing with each other for so long, poking the other in hopes that they would break first, and they had both 'broken' the night before. They had both won.

Sage liked to think that she had the upper hand because Fred had kissed her first, but they both knew that the other had caved - no one had pulled away that time around.

Not a word was said between the two as they both finished their meals with a trace of a smirk on their face. Every time either of them would finally get their thoughts in order and turned PG again they would catch the eye of the other and their minds were soon again filled with memories from not even a full day before.

After breakfast, Sage and Ginny were slowly walking back towards the Hogwarts dorms, unsuccessfully trying to brainstorm something to do during their last day of the weekend.

"We could..." Ginny paused her walking as well as her speaking and Sage gave her a curious look. "There's Theodore," Ginny said with a grin and gestured towards the brunette boy. "Go talk to him."

"What? No," Sage said with a scoff. "I can't just go talk to him. What would I even say?".

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I dunno, just go say hi and you'll figure it out. You guys are kind of friends, right?".

Sage shrugged, not knowing how to describe their relationship. It was one-sided asking for homework and the other side unrequited love. Sage the one harboring the unrequited love.

Ginny groaned and shoved Sage in his direction. "Go. If it doesn't go well, I'll be in your room."

"Fine," Sage said and huffed, trying to psych herself up to finally talk to him. It couldn't be that hard, right? "Wait, my room?".

"Yeah, 'm gonna go see what Hermoine's doing today."

A grin took over Sage's face. Theodore could wait. "Since when are you guys close? Not that I'm not happy for you."

Ginny rolled her eyes but Sage could already tell that she was smitten. "We're not close. I'm trying to get there though."

Sage chuckled. "Okay, good luck."

"You too," Ginny said and winked at her before leaving.

Sage watched as Ginny walked away but eventually took a deep breath and turned around. It was time to face her fears.

She started to walk over to where Theodore was leaned up against a wall while talking to Blaise about something, a wide smirk on his face while his large hands gestured something. Merlin, those hands. Sage had to look away from them.

"Hey, Theo!" She said as she approached them, hoping that she sounded as casual as she was attempting to be.

"Hey, Sage," he said and directed his smirk at her. She hated that it nearly made her weak in the knees. It was pathetic, her crush on the boy.

"That's so weird," Blaise said. "We were just talking about you."

Something sparked in her chest, a mix of both hope and nervousness. What the hell had they been talking about? She also hated how much she prayed that it was something good.

"Oh?" she finally got out.

Theodore chuckled. "Yeah, I was just talking about how I really don't feel like doing this potions assignment and I was saying that I bet you had done it," he said with a shrug.

Sage's heart dropped even though she knew that they probably weren't talking about how amazing he thought she was or how much he wished he could take her out on a date. She knew that. She just couldn't help herself from hoping.

"And I was saying that you're so sweet," he said, voice deep and smooth like melted caramel, and draped his arm around her shoulders so he could talk at eye level with her. Every ounce of breath left her lungs. "That you might just help me out with it." He shot her one of his award-winning smiles. "You've done it, right?".

Sage gulped, never having been in this close of a proximity with him before. "Oh, um, I actually haven't, but I was actually just about to."

"Great!" Theodore said and stood back up again. "Why don't you come do it with me? We can go to the library."

Sage had already started nodding before he finished his sentence. Again, pathetic, she knows. "Yeah! That sounds great," she said and smiled up at him.

"Great," he said with another pearly white smile. She just knew that she would do anything he wanted for that smile. It truly was a weakness. "How about you go get your books and stuff and meet me there?".

Sage nodded. "Okay."

She started quickly walking back to her room and didn't even notice when she arrived, her body buzzing with nerves and excitement.

"How'd it go?" Ginny asked when she walked in. Sage noticed that she was sitting on the foot of Hermione's bed and assumed that they were in a conversation but didn't have the time to ask questions.

"We're going to go do the potions assignment in the library together right now," she said with thinly veiled excitement.

"Sage, that's great!" Hermione spoke.

"I know, I know. It's like a study date," she said while gathering her books into her bag.

What she didn't see was Ginny and Hermione sharing a look behind her back.

"Sage, just-" Ginny paused. Sage turned around and looked at her curiously. " Just don't get too excited," Ginny said, sounding guilty as she said it.

"What do you mean? It's like, kind of a date. I think."

"Don't get me wrong," Ginny said and shifted on the bed so that she was fully facing Sage. "It's great that you guys are finally talking and hanging out. I mean, I should be telling you 'I told you so' for making you go over there. It's just-" she paused for a moment to choose her words. "All he's ever doing is asking you for the homework or asking to cheat off of your tests. And you always let him."

"Well, yeah, I mean I don't mind," Sage said with a frown on her face.

"I know, I know. I just don't want you to get your hopes up if he just wants you to do the homework for him. I mean, I doubt he's actually going to do any of it. And this is like the biggest project of the semester."

Sage opened her mouth to retaliate but was interrupted by Hermione.

"Ginny's right, Sage. I never said anything because I didn't want to ruin your mood, but wherever you came back to the room all excited about your new conversation with Theo it was always just him asking you for work or asking for answers on a test. And then thanking you a few times with that smile you can't resist."

Sage sighed but knew that they were right. It was just that the excitement of talking to him had always overridden whatever it was that was the topic of conversation. "Okay, so it's not a date. It's still good though, right? I mean, I'm going to spend time with him."

"Yes, of course," Ginny said with a reassuring smile.

Sage took a deep breath, fixed up her hair in the mirror, and checked to make sure that she had all of her books in her bag. "Okay, I need to go. He's waiting for me. Wish me luck," she said as she left the room, still having an inkling of hope that they were having a study date even after the lecture from her friends.

When Sage walked into the library she spotted Theodore already sitting at a table, talking with some fourth-year girl who was standing next to him. Sophie, she thought her name was. Or maybe Sophia. Sophie was tucking a piece of hair behind her ear and looked to be blushing, vaguely resembling Sage whenever she spoke with him, and Theodore was looking up at her with his signature smirk.

Sage paused for a minute, her mood a bit dampened while looking at the scene, but regained her confidence and walked over to him, Sophia be damned. He was there waiting for her anyways.

"Hey, Theo, you ready?" she asked as she walked up to the table, not sparing Sophie a glance.

"Yeah, come here," he said and pulled out a chair next to him. Sage was filled with warmth at the gesture and took the seat. "Bye, Sophia," he said and shot her a wink before she left.

Sage glared at her retreating back.

"Okay, let's do this thing," he said and turned back to Sage, giving her a smile and his full attention which she preened under.

"Okay, so first we...".

Once they started working on the lengthy project, it was obvious that Theodore was going to be of no help. She had tried to deny it for the first 20 minutes, hoping that he really didn't know how to write a potion recipe correctly, but she couldn't put off the fact that Ginny and Hermione had been right.

She was doing both of their work for them, telling him exactly what to write and where, and he was just sitting there looking pretty.

"Can you just do it?" he had asked Sage while pushing the book back to her after she had asked him to find the kind of animal hair needed for a specific potion. When she had been unable to hold back an eye-roll as she complied, he rested his chin in the palm of his hand and smiled at her before saying, "You're just so smart, you'll always do it better." She had purposefully rolled her eyes then, her blush involuntary.

They worked for another hour and completed everything that they could do together, Sage having insisted that they do the analysis separately because they really weren't supposed to have the same answers for those. The minute she said that they were finished, Theodore claimed that he had to go and nearly ran out of the library.

She glumly walked back to meet with Ginny and Hermione, telling herself that she was just going to have to get him alone another time when homework wasn't involved. How she was going to do that she didn't know.

~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, after dinner that had followed her day that she had spent walking around the grounds with Ginny, Sage was curled up in bed with a book in one hand and tea in the other. Hermione was going to be at Harry and Ron's until later that night and she didn't feel like doing anything too late before school the next day so she had thrown on her comfiest pajamas and taken out her contacts before climbing into her bed with glasses on. The window was cracked open so gusts of fresh air flooded the room along with the soft lighting, the faint sounds of voices traveling from other open windows able to be heard. It was the perfect night if you asked her, the introvert inside of her happy.

Her paradise was cut short however when a knock sounded at the door. She let out a groan and laid her book down open-faced on the bed before getting up, rearranging her sweater that had gotten all messed up.

She walked over to the door and opened it, honestly a bit surprised to see Fred. She knew that there wasn't a huge amount of awkwardness between them which she was happy for, but she wasn't quite expecting him to just show up at her door unannounced.

"Um, hey Fred," she said, confusion obvious in her voice.

"Hey, I just uh," he started, trailing off as he looked above her into the room, eyes scanning it.

Understanding flooded through Sage as she realized why he was standing in front of her and checking to make sure that she was alone in her room. And she wasn't unhappy about it.

"Just..." she invited him to continue, not ready to let him off the hook and wanting to see him squirm a bit more. A smile was already taking over her face as she watched him nervously play with his hands.

"Just had a question on uh, the homework," he said and scratched the back of his neck in an unsure way.

Sage would be lying if she said that his hesitance wasn't the cutest, most endearing thing that she had ever witnessed.

She rolled her eyes and smiled up at him knowingly. "Homework, huh?".

She then reached up and grabbed his collar, giggling as she pulled his lips down to hers for an immediately passionate kiss. She dragged him into the room and shut the door behind him.

"What class is this homework in?" she asked against his lips as she led him back to the bed. She wasn't about to let go of the fact that he made up a pitiful lie just to come over. It was too good.

"Shut up," he murmured back, their lips never fully separating. "There's no homework."

"I know," she said as she fell backward onto the bed.


	10. Chapter10

Sage and Fred laid on their backs on Sage's bed, both of their shimmering, sweat sheened, bare chests rising and falling with heaving breaths. They both looked absolutely and utterly fucked.

Once Sage caught enough of her breath and realized that she didn't want to be laying naked and exposed next to Fred any more, she got up and walked into her closet to throw on a big t-shirt and some new underwear, not rushing too fast to get dressed because, well, Fred had already seen it all. Twice.

When she walked out of the closet, Fred was propped up against her headboard with her comforter barely covering his lower half. She could see his v-line and the smallest bit of hair peeking out above the blanket which she guessed was deliberate if she knew Fred.

"So..." Fred started, leaning back further into the headboard and looking all-too comfortable.

"So," Sage said, inviting him to continue, and re-did her hair into a bun.

Fred huffed and rolled his eyes. They both knew what he was trying to ask but Sage felt like being a little shit.

" _So_ , what does this mean?" Fred asked. He was not at all sheepish to ask the question. Fucking once could be written off as a one off, but twice was the beginning of a pattern. Or at least he hoped so.

Sage sighed and sat down near the foot of the bed. She didn't feel like she had the willpower to sit close to him while he was in his sweaty, sex-haired naked glory. "I'm not having this conversation while you're naked."

Fred grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. "Too distracting?".

"Totally," Sage answered, voice dripping with sarcasm. Even though that was in fact the case.

Fred rolled his eyes and complied. When he stood up from the bed he too didn't rush to his clothes or cover himself while he walked. He strided over to his jumbled up clothes on the ground and dragged on a pair of sweatpants to the lowest that they could possibly sit without falling off of his hips, no underwear underneath. If Sage's eyes lingered on the soft length of his cock as he did so, that was no one's business but her own.

"So we fucked," Fred bluntly stated as he sat himself back down in his old spot on her bed. "Twice."

Sage cleared her throat and moved to sit next to him against the headboard. If they were really going to talk about it, she was going to get comfortable.

"Um, yeah." She didn't really know what else to say.

"Do you regret it?," he asked, again bluntly.

"No, no, of course not," Sage said while shaking her head as if that was the furthest thing from the truth. "But, um, I'm not really, like, looking for a relationship," she said sheepishly. She was really hoping that that wasn't what he thought this was.

Fred chuckled and waved her off. "Okay good. Me neither." Whether that statement was fully true or not was for Fred's mind only.

"Okay good," Sage said.

A silence fell over the room as both of them became occupied with their thoughts. It really should have been awkward - especially after they just had sex for the second time without talking about what it meant - but it wasn't. They were both just too comfortable around one another for things to ever get too awkward and they both knew that this was a complicated situation. There were a lot of things to think through and a lot of questions that they both wanted to ask.

Fred sighed and broke the silence. He turned on the bed so that he was angled at Sage and looked at her with a look that was filled with apprehension. "Listen, Sage, I really really care about our friendship and I really don't want to mess it up. If this made anything weird or-"

"No," Sage cut him off and angled her own body towards his, grabbing his hands between her own. "Of course it didn't Fred. You're one of my best friends and nothing you do could ruin that. I care about our friendship too."

Fred sighed in relief. "So we're friends?".

"Yes," Sage chuckled.

"And are we, um, doing this again?".

Sage felt her cheeks warm up a little bit. "Do you want to?".

"Hell yes," Fred said as if it was the most obvious answer - as if Sage was stupid for thinking otherwise.

Sage giggled. "Okay, I wouldn't mind either." _Understatement of the century_. "So we're friends who just do other stuff too."

"Fuck buddies," Fred smirked.

Sage rolled her eyes, blush becoming present on her face again. "I was thinking more 'Friends with Benefits' ".

Fred grinned a smile that was laced with fondness and amusement. His look then turned more predatory and he scooted closer to her on the bed. "And what are these so called 'benefits', hmm?".

Sage laughed and pushed off his hand that was already starting to creep up her thigh. She had thought that he would be worn out from their first round, but apparently not.

"You can find out later. First, we need to set up some ground rules."

Fred groaned and tossed his head backwards. "Rules? Really? Isn't this meant to be fun?".

"Yes, Fred, but I just don't want things to get weird. So let's figure out how this is going to go."

Fred reluctantly sat up straight on the bed. "Should I get out a notepad?".

Sage didn't respond to his attempt at a joke and gave him a glare. He held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Rule number one," she started. "No telling anybody."

"What? How come? Not even-"

"No. Nobody."

Fred looked at her with puppy-dog eyes. "You embarrassed of me, sweetheart?".

"No, Fred, I just- ugh, you're so annoying."

Fred grinned. "That's what you said last time right before you took your top off."

Her eyes widened and she could feel even more blush rise to her face. She just cleared her throat and continued on, not wanting to humor anymore of Fred's antics.

"Rule number two - no kissing," Sage said. Fred opened his mouth with an incredulous look to retort but she continued on before he could speak. "Or at least not without a purpose."

Fred processed the information for a moment but then grinned his typical grin. A mischievous look took over his eyes and he scooted even closer to her on the bed until their bodies were pressed together. "A purpose, hmm?" he asked directly into her ear with a low voice, sending shivers up and down her spine. "So if I kiss you it means it's going to lead somewhere?".

He then brought his lips to her neck and started to softly press kisses upwards until he neared her mouth, his hand starting to wander up her bare leg.

"No, Fred," she said and pushed her off of him once she finally regained her senses. "At least wait until we finish the rules."

He huffed and laid back against the headboard again once he finally realized that she wasn't going to give in.

"Fine. Continue on."

"Rule number 3 - no sleeping over."

"What? Why?".

"I mean, first of all, George and Hermione."

Fred rolled his eyes. "George is out most nights and I'm sure Hermione will be some nights too."

"Okay, I also just don't want it to get weird. Sleeping over is too intimate. You always end up cuddling and waking up together in the morning is too much."

Fred raised his eyebrows. "Have a bunch of experience, do you?".

Sage rolled her eyes for what must have been the 100th time in the last five minutes. "Are you going to let me get through these?".

"Do I get a reward?".

"You are insufferable," Sage said but couldn't help the chuckle that fell out of her lips. She was annoyed that he wouldn't let her get a full sentence out, but she was also secretly glad that Fred was being his normal self and was relieving any awkwardness of the awkward conversation. She couldn't believe that she had thought for even a moment that they wouldn't remain friends.

"I know," he said with a proud smile. "But in all seriousness, do we really need that rule? What if it's really late?".

"It's a ten-second walk."

"What if I fall asleep?".

"I'll wake you up."

"What if you fall asleep in my room?".

"You'll wake me up."

"What if I..." he paused for a moment to think of a scenario. "Sprain my ankle and _can't_ walk back to my room?".

"I'll carry you."

Fred groaned. This time it was him that was annoyed with Sage. "What if..." he thought hard for a moment for an unarguable scenario and Sage looked at him with a challenging look, curious to see what he would come up with. "What if that ogre from the bathrooms a few years ago comes back and is waiting for me out in the hall? Huh? You gonna kick me out and let me get eaten?".

Sage giggled at his determination and couldn't help but look at him fondly. "Okay, Fred. If 'the ogre from the bathrooms a few years ago' comes back and is waiting right outside the door for you, you can sleep over."

Fred fist-pumped the air in victory. "And if we're at mine and the ogre is waiting outside my door for you. Then you have to sleep over at mine."

"Okay, Fred," Sage said. She couldn't help but smile as she watched how proud Fred seemed with his small victory. He was like a child sometimes.

"Any more rules?".

"Yeah, last one. Either of us can end this at any time if someone else comes along. No hard feelings, no strings attached."

Fred nodded, finally not having an issue with one of the rules.

"Oh! And you can't play pranks on me anymore," Sage added. If they were getting to make rules, she was going to finally put an end to being Freds pranking test monkey.

"What?" he asked with a devastated expression. It was as if that was the rule he was most upset with.

"Yes. No exceptions."

Fred crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. Seriously, he was like a child. "Fine."

"Good. Do you have anything you want to add?".

Fred thought for a moment. "I don't think so. Are we done now?".

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good," Fred said and crashed his lips against Sages'.

Sage giggled into the kiss but didn't put up a fight, instead maneuvering them back on the bed and straddling his hips before pushing him down on the mattress. This was what their new friendship was all about after all.

"I could definitely get used to this," Fred said when she pulled her lips away from his to sit up and take off her shirt.

Sage grinned and leaned back down to reconnect their lips, their naked upper bodies pressing together. The contact brought warmth throughout Sage's entire body; she could feel the ripples of his muscles moving against her bare skin.

A cool breeze blew in through the open window, eliciting goosebumps from both of them. They just pressed even closer together as their mouths moved with one another's, goosebumps slowly disappearing as they held one another.

They kissed passionately, lips already familiar with one another's. It was both rushed and leisurely, if that was even possible. They were both more than ready to get each other's pants off, but they now knew that this wasn't the last time that they were going to get to be with one another and they knew that they had all the time in the world. Plus, they had already just had sex not even fifteen minutes before.

Fred's hands slowly trailed up Sage's naked upper body as she ground herself down against him impatiently, her own hands exploring his body as well.

It was as if he knew exactly what she would like - soft brushes against the outside of her thighs, a harsher squeeze on her hips, feather-light fingers trailing up her back, a tighter grip on her hair.

Every move that he made made her even more desperate, a need filling her body and an ache filling her stomach.

"Mmm, let's get these off," she said and reached down to remove his sweatpants from his body. She wouldn't have made him get dressed earlier if she thought that she would be undressing him again so soon.

Once he was naked, she quickly climbed over to her nightstand to grab a condom and didn't spare any time before climbing back on top of Fred and sliding the condom on.

"And these," Fred said and hooked his thumbs underneath the lace of her panties.

Once they were both fully naked, they continued to kiss and grind their bodies together until neither of them could take it anymore.

Sage reached down and grabbed his length to line up with herself, slowly sliding on top of him until he was fully seated inside of her, their pelvises flush together. She had already been unbelievably wet just from Fred's hands so his generously-sized member had barely hurt when going in.

"Fuck, Sage," Fred muttered as his hands continued to work over her body. They soon found a home on the curve of her ass - somewhere Sage was soon finding to be his favorite spot.

"Fuck," she moaned as she started to slowly move up and down, Fred's hands supporting her movements.

They soon found a rhythm - while Sage bounced up and down on Fred's cock he met each of her bounces with a thrust upward of his own. Sage had never felt someone so deep inside of her as his thrusts met hers, she could swear that he was literally in her stomach.

Sage didn't know how much time had passed as they moved together, bodies flushed and sweating while a slew of moans and curses continued to fall from their mouths, but Sage was beginning to get tired. Her thighs ached from the constant strain and her arms hurt from holding herself up on his chest.

Fred recognized this and took her by surprise by flipping them over, quickly getting into an unbelievably fast rhythm as he started to pound into her.

"Shit," he shakily got out as he bent his head backwards with closed eyes.

"Fuck, Fred, 'm close," Sage somehow got out through the intensity that was beginning to take over her body.

"Fuck, gonna come," Fred muttered and somehow picked up his pace even more.

They came together, both a bit too loud at their peaks for having forgotten to cast a silencing spell, and then fell back down on the bed next to each other. They had just been in the exact position earlier and it was obvious that they both were thinking the same thing when they turned to each other and laughed.

"I could really get down with this arrangement," Fred said breathlessly.


End file.
